


A New Road of Misfortune

by ItheraelFF



Series: Into the Itherverse [1]
Category: Toaru Kagaku no Railgun | A Certain Scientific Railgun, Toaru Majutsu no Index | A Certain Magical Index, とある科学の一方通行 | Toaru Kagaku no Accelerator | A Certain Scientific Accelerator
Genre: AU, Action/Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Alternate Story, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bromance, Canon Compliant, Conspiracy, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Epic Battles, Epic Bromance, Eventual Crossover, Eventual Powerful Touma, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Harems, Magic, Magic and Science, Manga & Anime, Mecha, Multi, One-Sided Attraction, Pre-Canon, Psychic Abilities, Retelling, Science Fiction, Shit gets Fucked!, Slow To Update, Touma Never Lost His Memories, Training, With A Twist, sexy teacher
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 56,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23887795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItheraelFF/pseuds/ItheraelFF
Summary: Destiny is a bitch, even for someone who can actually destroy it with one hand. Follow Kamijou Touma as he strives to survive in a city reeked of dangers and mystery. A simple unfortunate event will open a new road for him, where he'll meet new allies and enemies.
Relationships: Kamijou Touma/Shokuhou Misaki
Series: Into the Itherverse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1721800
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing. If I did, I would be drinking tea with Kazuma Kamachi in this very moment.
> 
> The cover of ANROM will be updated every chapter.
> 
> You won't be disappointed. 
> 
> \- Frank

**The New Tale of The Illusion Killer Boy: _The_Imagine-Breaker_**

**PART 1**

"White…Yes… It's white. The ceiling's white. Who would have thought…?"

A certain spiky-haired boy was lying on the ground with a surprised look on his face. It seemed his sleep was interrupted by a little case of falling from the bed. That weird dream he had must have been the reason for it, but he just decided to shrug it off. His head still hurt like hell, though.

"Now I'm just being silly." The boy mumbled to himself as he slowly stood up. He rubbed the aching part of his head and looked around his dorm room.

It was rather spacious, at least for a student like him. All the necessary accommodations were present: A single bed, a coffee table in the centre and a small kitchenette. Adjacent to it was the door that led to the laundry room and bathroom. He also had some bookshelves on the opposite side of his bed with a TV on top of a stout wooden stand.

The first rays of the rising sun began to enter through the curtains covering the balcony's glass door.

"What time is it?" The boy glanced at the wall in front of him hoping to clear that doubt, only to remember that he accidentally broke the only clock he had two days ago when he stupidly tested his misfortune when he tried to play with a basketball inside his dorm. Fortunately, that was the only thing damaged.

The young boy sighed and grabbed his cell from the nearby shelf, opening it.

"5:58, huh? I guess I can take a walk before heading to school."

He opened the curtains to finally let the sun engulf the room and headed to the bathroom. After brushing his teeth, taking a quick shower, and preparing a simple bento, the boy quickly dressed himself and grabbed all the stuff needed for today's class, putting them in his book bag. Wearing his school uniform for summer and his favourite orange T-shirt underneath it, the young student walked towards the entrance door.

"Let's make this day a good one, Kamijou-san," The spiky-haired boy said as he smiled playfully to himself. Even the unfortunate events that tended to happen in his daily life were not going to stop him from enjoying his youth.

Kamijou opened the door and walked outside his dorm, a confident smile spread on his face; one that quickly disappeared a few seconds later when he tripped on a tin can and fell to the ground. All the books and pencils from his book bag spilled out, spreading all over the passageway.

"Fukou da…"

As always, misfortune got in his way.

**PART 2**

The sun shone brightly upon **Academy City**. A city filled with educational facilities, research laboratories, and the like; all of them with single purpose: The development of psychic powers and advanced technology. As such, Academy City was considered to be the most advanced city in the world, with technology as far as 30 years ahead of the rest of the globe.

The city was composed of 23 districts, each one having a different purpose.

Among the most important districts within the city was **District 7** , filled with middle and high schools, hospitals, boarding houses, and dormitories, one of them occupied by a certain unfortunate student.

Said unfortunate student walked down an open street as he observed the tall distant buildings that covered the north side of the city. The boy presumed those belonged to **District 1** , where most of the city's administration was located.

Kamijou reached the corner of the block and stopped, turning his head to the left and couldn't help but notice the three girls that overtook him, joining the street on his right side.

Now, like many guys his age, he could appreciate the beauty of the opposite sex. That being said, he had, at the core, a very gentlemanly personality due to both the respect he was taught to have for women and the knowledge of what would happen if the fairer sex were angered, knowledge which he happened to learn first-hand due to his misfortune. Leering at girls or harassing them in front of him was a good way of pissing him off and earning a knuckle sandwich to the face.

Plus, looks weren't everything. No matter how delicious an apple looked, if it was rotten inside, then it was a bad apple; and he applied this concept in his appreciation for women. Kamijou would never be attracted to someone that could be considered as evil; but at the very least, he would admit and accept her beauty.

The girl in the middle had long black hair and a prominent forehead, the one at her left side had short wavy light-brown hair and the last one dark-bluish long hair. While they were all well-endowed, the one in the middle stood out in particular.

"Wait…That uniform…Where have I seen it?" Kamijou asked himself. "Maybe…Maybe I should go that way."

It was still early, so a little detour wouldn't really affect his schedule. In fact, he was looking for something different to spice up his routine, so why not this? His misfortune followed him everywhere he went anyway; so the chosen route would make no difference in the end. It would take longer no doubt, but he had time to spare.

Having decided on his course of action, Kamijou started walking again and soon reached the trio, who seemed to be discussing serious matters. He paid their discussion no mind and slowed his pace, content on just trailing behind them.

But as Kamijou continued down the street, he did manage to hear the word 'exams' and his positive disposition for the day crumbled.

'Wait, it's exam time, isn't it…' Kamijou's brow furrowed as he remembered the reason for his lack of sleep for the past few days.

"Exams… Hahhh…"

It wasn't as if he was really worried about them. Kamijou usually had low-average albeit acceptable grades so the exams weren't the real problem. What actually bothered him was the **Power Curriculum Program** itself.

Academy City's goal was the development of physic powers and technology, the first one being the main reason for its establishment, the latter being a requirement needed to achieve the first goal. The Power Curriculum Program was the result of intensive research, designed to unlock a student's potential in gaining, controlling, and improving supernatural abilities. Any student that had gone through it was given a new label: **Esper**.

These espers were ranked from **level 0** to **level 5** , depending on the progress of the individual student in the program. While most espers usually began at level 1 and improved to become higher ranked espers, there were those that were level 0.

Level 0 espers were a majority in Academy City, comprising 60% of the student populace. These espers were people that had weak powers, or did not show any sign of having one. Although they still had the potential to unlock them, it seemed very unlikely to happen and most failed the program.

The spiky-haired boy by the name of **Kamijou Touma** was one of those said level 0 espers, who always failed the program. The remedial classes and tests he was forced into as a result had less effect on him than most, since he was a bit different. He possessed an ability despite being a Zero; one that couldn't be detected or measured, one that was unique and most likely the bane of all others.

It was called the **'Imagine Breaker'**.

This power resides entirely in his right hand. As far as he could tell, it allowed him to negate other esper abilities and completely neutralize them. He'd had plenty of opportunities to test it, in the many, MANY troublesome situations he found himself in.

Kamijou Touma was the kind of guy who couldn't stand anyone who used his or her powers to hurt people. This often led him into trouble for the sake of helping the helpless and innocent. Ironically, he himself often became the one needing help the most.

Kamijou wasn't sure why he had this ability, but he couldn't help complaining about it still. Sure, his right hand could negate supernatural powers, but it also negated the "blessings of god". All the good fortune that should have made his life better never arrived, and the result was an endless stream of bad luck that he had endured since he was born.

_'The child of misfortune…'_

There were many reasons on why he moved to Academy city and they weren't very pleasant events. But he recalled the day he was supposed to move to the city, the day that gave him the impression that his misfortune was truly trying to stop him.

_'Geez…'_ He could remember the girl with long dark blue hair, asking him to get her cat from the roof of her house. He accepted, despite the taxi waiting to take him to the airport. Kamijou could have just ignored the pleas of the little girl, but he couldn't. After all, who would have thought that agreeing to help her would have caused him to miss his plane?

**Flashback:**

_Kamijou climbed the tree closest to the tall house and jumped from one of the thick branches onto the roof. After examining his surroundings, he quickly made his way to the scared cat that strangely enough, had blue fur, but only managed to grab it after chasing it around the roof for more than 5 minutes. When he headed back to the thick branch of the tall tree, a white cat with a dress(?) appeared in the yard of the next house, causing the one he was holding to react and jump out of his embrace. He lost his balance from its sudden movement and tumbled to the ground below._

_Kamijou woke three days later in a hospital and only managed to take the plane to AC four days after that._

**End of Flashback**

But eventually, he arrived at a place where he thought he could live 'peacefully'.

Although his misfortune would follow him all the way to the city of science, here no one would blame him, wouldn't spread superstitions about a child who only brought chaos. This city was the perfect place to start anew and he was grateful for the chance.

"What am I thinking now? Geez… this is not the time," Kamijou closed his eyes and breathed deeply before resuming his study of the girls in front of him.

The trio whispered indecipherable words, glancing back at him. Kamijou wondered what they were talking about now. He would get his answer when they suddenly stopped in their tracks and turned towards him a short while later.

"Huh?" Was the only thing that came out of Kamijou's mouth at the sudden attention.

"Please, could you stop stalking us?" The girl in the middle spoke as she covered the lower part of her face with a green fan.

Kamijou stared at the girl with the fan. She, like the other two, was wearing a school uniform seemingly composed of a short-sleeve shirt under a light brown vest and a really short dark tan skirt.

"Hmph! This is what we get for going for a walk out of the school grounds," The girl with the fan looked offended, even if her mouth was covered, her tone easily displayed her annoyance.

"What? What are you talking about? I'm not stalking you."

"W-well… I think you began to follow us when we passed behind you in that corner. It seemed you were going up the street when you abruptly began to walk behind us, so…" The girl with dark-bluish hair explained, her voice trailing off when Kamijou directed his eyes towards her.

"Do not try to deny it! Those perverted eyes of yours are proof enough!" The black-haired girl spoke with a strong voice. "I suggest that you stop at once before I call Judgment."

"Hey! I'm not doing anything!" He tried to defend himself, but he was pretty sure it all would be useless, "And I don't have perverted eyes."

The third girl stood in front of the boy and locked stares with him. Kamijou stared right back because he genuinely wasn't stalking them.

_'What's with this girl?!'_

"Maybe he wasn't stalking us, Kongou-san. He doesn't look like a bad guy," Kamijou was startled by her comment; this girl was defending him and that honestly made him kind of glad.

"Wannai-san! He IS stalking us; have you forgotten how he had stared at us just a few minutes ago?"

Kamijou sighed, he did glance at them but it wasn't like he was the only one doing so, other male students were as guilty as him, plus THEY were the ones staring.

"Liste-," Kamijou's eyes widened a bit when he noticed the emblem that was located in the vest of the girl closest to him. He recognized it, finally placing their familiar outfits. It was a discovery he would rather not have made.

"Where are you looking at, you pervert!?" The girl called Kongou shouted, catching him off guard and almost making his book bag slip from his grasp. He managed to choke back a yelp as well.

"Sorry! I didn't mean…" Kamijou averted his gaze to the ground and sighed again. "Look, you three are from Tokiwadai Middle School, right?"

"Yes, we are. Why do you ask?" Asked Wannai.

"I see. I just wanted to confirm somethi-"

"Do not try to change the subject! You were looking at Wannai-san's chest, I saw it with my own eyes! Do you not have any shame?" Kongou crossed her arms, looking even more disgusted.

"I was just looking at the emblem on her ves—"

"Do not try to make excuses," Kongou interrupted him again and grabbed Wannai by the arm, pulling her behind her. "I will not let you do anything to my friends."

A moment passed as both Kamijou and the girl accusing him looked at each other in the eyes when suddenly, Kamijou smiled.

"You know, it's nice to see people protecting their friends like you do," He briefly glanced at the girl with wavy-hair, who turned slightly red. "Even if I was a real stalker, which I'm not by the way, you confronted me to protect them and I admire that."

The three girls blinked in surprise. Apparently, they did not expect such an answer, but Kamijou truly felt that way.

"W-we-well, of course I do! I-I would do anything to keep them safe from the likes of you. Hmph!" The black-haired Tokiwadai student responded hastily and turned her head to the side.

"Kongou-san…" Both girls at her side said in unison.

Kamijou thought for a second that he saw her cheeks getting red, but she covered them quickly with the fan. It must have just been his imagination.

"Ok, fine… Sorry for whatever I did. This poor Kamijou-san will just go away," The unfortunate boy said as he scratched the back of his head. The girls were too much trouble, not to mention that they belonged to that certain school he would rather avoid, "There's no need to call Judgment."

"Fine, but let me clarify something before you go. I was only going to call Judgment after dealing with you myself," A smug smile was painted on Kongou's face, irritating him more than just a bit.

"…Is that so? Huh…" Kamijou said with an equally smug expression, "I wouldn't be so sure."

The girl with short-wavy hair seemed surprised by his response; on the other side, the forehead-girl looked pissed and was glaring daggers at him.

"What!? Do you know who you are talking to?" A tense atmosphere formed around them, and her intense stare made Kamijou question his own actions for a moment.

"I don't know but I guess-"

"I'm Kongou Mitsuko! One of the most promising espers in Academy City! I'm a level 4 esper if you must know;" She began to laugh for some reason." I bet you are just a low level esper, maybe even a useless level 0 for all I know."

"K-Kongou-san! Don't talk like that…" The blue-haired girl said with a weak voice.

Kamijou's tired eyes became sharp in an instant, but Kongou failed to notice it.

"Y-yeah… that was a bit uncalled for…" Wannai did however, and looked very troubled for the sudden change of atmosphere. She glanced at him and turned to her friend, "We should go, Kongou-san…"

"To think I wasted my time with you," Kongou finally said.

Kamijou closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, struggling to contain his anger. Her cruel words stewed inside him, but he took a breath, forcing himself to calm down before he did anything he would regret.

"I may have misjudged you," Kamijou's expression became deathly serious. "You're just one of those spoiled ojous that always look down on people. You think that being a higher level esper makes you better?"

"No, I meant-"

Kamijou spoke in a stronger, more authoritative tone.

"Level 0 espers work hard to acquire their abilities and improve, it's not their fault that they lack the advantage most of you have when beginning at level 1 or more," He took a step forward, making her flinch slightly, "Do you have any idea of how useless most of them feel when they can't even become a level 1 esper?"

"I-I…I never said anything of the sort…" Her eyes fell to the ground, unable to meet his hard gaze.

By her reaction, she at least seemed regretful of what she just said. No one spoke a word for a moment.

Kamijou's face softened, now sporting a bored look on his face.

"I just can't stand people like you," The spiky-haired guy retorted as he walked past them, hiding his persisting annoyance, "Think before you talk, Forehead-san."

He knew it was probably uncalled for, but Kamijou couldn't help it. He didn't want to call her by her name, so the only thing that came to his head to refer to her was…

"F-Forehead…!?" She sounded surprised but he just ignored her and continued to walk away. He couldn't have cared less if that nickname offended her. 'Conceited brats' and 'irritation' usually came in a package deal, and Kongou proved it's validity once more.

Then, Kamijou felt a deathly glare being directed at the back of his head and a cold tingle ran down his spine. A strong wind pushed him from behind but he held his balance; he didn't look back at the source of the unexpected gust… until his highly experienced perceptions screamed danger.

His honed reflexes allowed him to duck just in time as a trash can sailed over his head at incredible speed, impacting the mailbox behind him with a crash.

"Kongou-san! Calm down!" The girl with blue hair screamed loudly. She sounded scared and Kamijou didn't wonder why. That Ojou did something to throw that trash can with enough force to dent metal. He could have easily died if he hadn't dodged in time.

Kamijou stood up and got ready for her next move. He could almost feel the wind concentrating around her fan. The other two girls stepped back unable to do anything to stop the incoming fight.

_'Me and my big mouth. Once again, I've managed to pick a fight with a powerful and violent ojou-sama.'_

"Listen! I'm sorry! I was just joking," Kamijou tried to apologize, though his voice lacked sincerity considering his panicked state, "Are you the kind that can't take jokes? Is resorting to violence what Tokiwadai teaches their students?"

"Silence! My name is Kongou Mitsuko! How dare you address me like that!?" She was really angry, too angry to calm down. Kamijou could only wonder if she had some kind of trauma in the past concerning her forehead. Maybe other people made fun of her regarding the subject, noting it was an easy target like he just did.

"You know, I could have died with that," Kamijou cleared his throat. It was kind of funny to think how much things could change in a matter of seconds. He was just scolding her one minute ago and now he was apologizing for something ridiculous, "But I…Eh…I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry."

"He's apologizing, Kongou-san. Please forgive him and let him go, everyone is looking at us," Wannai tried to convince her but Kamijou suspected she would not let him off the hook so easily. Ojous were too prideful for that.

But unexpectedly, Kongou's glare lost its intensity and the gust of wind surrounding her fan ceased. She looked around her, finally noticing the stares they were drawing, and her eyes widened at the realization. She then turned her face to Kamijou, the scary expression on her face finally gone.

"I…" She hesitated. "…Accept your apology…" The esper level-4 spoke with a nervous voice, eyes darting around the crowd.

"Huh? Really…?" _'That was surprisingly easy… Almost anticlimactic even.'_

"Yes…" Kongou closed her eyes, her fan covering her mouth again, "As long as you understand that you did wrong."

Kamijou was surprised and relieved at the same time. The girl in front of him that almost killed him apparently returned to her ojou-sama self. Though he did find it funny how he had to admit his "wrongdoings" when she still hadn't.

"Your name," Kongou pointed her fan at him, staring at him intently.

"What?" Kamijou blinked.

"I said 'your name'. Tell me your name," Her tone became a bit bossy, the default tone for ojous.

"Why?" Kamijou inquired, gaze narrowing, "Is it…Necessary?"

Kongou glared at him, confirming that she was serious about it. Kamijou wanted to leave and just forget about this absurd event. If she learned his name, he strongly suspected it would end up bringing him trouble in the future.

However, considering her spoiled and stuck-up personality, Kamijou concluded that failing to comply would only make things worse right now.

"Kamijou Touma, that's my name…" He answered with a sigh.

"I see…" Kongou turned around and walked to where her fellow classmates were, "I will remember your name so you better remember my own. Let's go Wannai-san, Awatsuki-san."

"Y-yes!" The girl with the name of Awatsuki quickly followed after her.

"K-Kamijou-san…?" Wannai called out with a shaky voice as he directed his attention to her, "You…You are a level 0, right?"

At that moment, Kongou stopped but did not turn around.

"Yeah… quite a misfortunate one, if I may add," He answered easily, a sincere smile spread across his lips.

Wannai stared at him for a couple of seconds with a neutral expression, which was replaced by an odd smile. She then walked to her friends, the boy looking at her departing form, perplexed.

The Tokiwadai group left, returning to the direction they came.

That aside, Kamijou was in thought. The smile this girl called **Wannai** gave him made Kamijou feel a little embarrassed, but also left him with an uneasy feeling. That was the first time he saw someone looking at him the way she had.

"Argh!" He grabbed his head and began to scratch it like a mad man, "Stop thinking about stuff you don't understand, idiot! You probably imagined that."

But no matter what he said to himself, the spiky-haired boy was confused. What was with that smile? It showed kindness, but there was something else hidden within it.

His thoughts were interrupted by a blue armoured vehicle, passing at great speeds down the street beside him. He was relieved to see that truck didn't stop: after all, a mailbox had just been destroyed in what was probably a crime. Normally they would stop for something like this, because Kamijou recognized the emblem located at upper left side of it.

"Anti-Skill? There must be some trouble around."

**Anti-Skill** was Academy City's police force. From what he knew, it consisted of normal, non-esper adults. He had seen them a couple of times taking down thugs and troublesome espers with non-lethal weapons, admiring their dedication and skill.

Any kind of crime committed inside the walls that surrounded the city was handled by Anti-Skill. The more petty complaints were dealt with by **Judgment** , the student based disciplinary committee of espers that he had just been threatened with. Together, these two organizations maintained order in Academy City.

"I hope they can handle whatever it is that's happening."

Kamijou took his cell phone from one of the pockets of his pants and opened it. He eyed the upper right corner of the screen and then pocketed it back.

"6:43. I guess I still have some time to kill."

The young student approached the destroyed mailbox and examined it as other students got closer to take a look as well. It was totally deformed due to the impact with the trash can, and would definitely need to be replaced.

_'Damn… That girl is crazy. What the hell did she do? Was she actually controlling the wind?'_

**Kongou Mitsuko** was indeed a high level esper with amazing abilities. The proof of what she was capable of doing was laid right in front of him after all. She was a dangerous esper to mess with and he just made her mad a moment ago. The usual rotten luck of his was to blame of course.

More people began to gather around him, so he quickly made his way out of the crowd and ran in the opposite direction of the Tokiwadai trio. He needed to get out of there before the authorities noticed the damaged property and inevitably blamed him for it.

Kamijou ran to an alley located in the next block between two tall buildings and disappeared into the shadows.

**PART 3**

The temperature rose along the sun, and it was quickly becoming quite bothersome for the student sitting on a certain park's central bench. It was only 7:01 A.M. but the boy with the mysterious power called Imagine Breaker was already resting, a bit winded after the run to avoid trouble.

"Damn! This place is too hot," Kamijou commented, and yet he still didn't move from where he was sitting due to his laziness having the control over his body at the moment.

So he chose to stay like this despite his complaints, observing his surroundings. Nothing out of the ordinary was happening around the park, just the usual group of students passing by, two cylindrical coloured-beige cleaning robots taking care of any trash on the ground, and then…

Kamijou stared at a girl coming from the left, eyes filling with interest. She had long black hair pinned with a small flower accessory, and was wearing a school uniform composed of a sailor shirt, a red-coloured scarf, and a dark blue medium-sized skirt.

But what caught his attention was the bag she was carrying. Huge compared to her size, it seemed to be stuffed with food, most notably three long sticks of French loaves that protruded out. The girl sported a prideful smile for some reason as she skipped lightly in the dawn.

"Good morning!" She noticed Kamijou on the bench and spoke cheerfully to him as she passed by.

"G-good morning…" He replied with uncertainty on his tone, surprised that she bothered greeting him.

The girl smiled brightly at him as she walked away, leaving Kamijou thoughtful for the second time during this day. Another girl had made him a bit nervous.

"Well, that was something… But why so much food at this hour?"

The young boy stood up, grabbing his book bag.

"Well, this Kamijou-san has nothing do around here," The boy turned his head towards the direction that would take him to school. He hoped nothing more like his meeting with those ojou girls would occur, at least not for today.

With that, he left the park.

**PART 4**

Kamijou finally stood before the main entrance of his school. Located on a hill, reaching it was always tiresome. Only after climbing an inclination and several more flights of steps could one finally reach the school's entrance, making an already demoralizing journey even more difficult.

Kamijou Touma, however, had good stamina from the countless times he had to run to escape from trouble. So it went without saying that he would not be tired because of a little climbing.

"Geez…It's still early," The pointy-haired teen commented, as it was only 7:23 A.M. Since classes started at 8:45 A.M., while entrance onto the school's grounds was not allowed until 8:30 A.M., he was more or less one hour early.

"This early? You? Kamijou…?"

A voice came from behind, which he recognized immediately. That voice belonged to the only student in his school that could unnerve him. It did not take long for Kamijou to decide his next course of action.

The boy quickly spun around, raising both hands in a protective manner.

The person was actually a girl from his class, named **Fukiyose Seiri**. She had long black hair, a pretty face, and a well-endowed body although she lacked the sex appeal that she would otherwise have. To Kamijou, she was just a girl with the strength of a monster. Fukiyose wore the uniform to his school with prim perfection, a dark blue sailor fuku and a pleated skirt of the same colour.

Kamijou looked at her stoically before clapping both hands together, tilting his head forward.

"My apologies, Fukiyose-sama! This Kamijou-san is very sorry for anything I might have done!"

The girl in question raised an eyebrow as she crossed her arms.

"What are you doing!?" Her voice had an edge that clearly displayed her growing irritation.

"Well… I'm apologizing, Fukiyose-sama," He made a dumb expression as if he didn't understand why she was asking, "Does it look like anything else?"

"Don't call me Fukiyose-sama or I'm going to hit you," Fukiyose sighed, hands on her hip, "Why do you keep apologizing?"

Kamijou blinked twice, realizing he was acting like an idiot again.

"Well… I… Uh, don't really know, I guess…"

Fukiyose sighed again, having both hands on her hips now. She looked annoyed, which he knew wasn't a good sign. Several times she had knocked him unconscious when in this state, so he had come to be very wary of her.

"Think harder," She glared at him, "And then explain it to me."

Kamijou didn't usually give much thought to his actions, so he folded his arms and thought a bit. He guessed that saying what he felt would do, and so for lack of a better option, he went with his gut.

"I… thought you were going to hit me, like you always do," He answered sincerely.

"Was there a reason for me to do so?"

"…No…?"

The big-breasted girl sighed once more as the boy waited for her next words.

"Listen Kamijou, I don't hit you because I want to, I only do so because you act like an irresponsible, hopeless, idiotic, casual, lazy ass!"

"Do I act like that all the time?" He raised an eyebrow, "You punch me almost every day and even I can tell that I act reasonably…sometimes…"

"Sometimes it's you causing the ruckus, other times your friends are doing it, but you always butt in regardless, and it happens every day!" Fukiyose said with a scolding tone. Kamijou had to accept that she had a point, yet could only shrug his shoulders in response, "Anyway, don't just stand there, Kamijou. Let's just walk around and wait for class."

Kamijou opened his mouth to respond, but his voice was lost within the noise of an explosion that just occurred a few blocks away. Both students turned in the direction of a thick plume of rising smoke.

"What was that?" The girl asked, yet got no response.

For without wasting any time, Kamijou was already gone, running towards the site of the blast. His female classmate called out for him but he ignored her and focused instead on what his heart was saying.

_'Damn it! People might be hurt, I have to help.'_

Kamijou ran as fast as he could.

**PART 5**

Fire erupted from the upper windows of the burning building in front of Kamijou. People were running chaotically from its entrance and screams could be heard all around him. Some officials were helping the people affected by the smoke, choking as they fled the scene.

"How many are left in the final floor?" One of the officers asked to a person dressed in a long white coat.

The man coughed twice before directing his attention to the officer that talked to him. Kamijou got closer to them; he had to know what was going on.

"There are about 20 people or so in the last floor. We need to get them out of there now!" With Kamijou being close enough to hear them, he noticed the victim was likely a scientist of some kind.

"You don't have to tell us that, sir. Fire response units are on their way to deal with the fire and we are evacuating all the people we can," The officer was clearly troubled, face showing unease. "The only setback is that we can't actually get to the top. The chemicals in one of the labs created an explosion, destroying the elevator as well as the stairs that lead to it. But we-"

"What started the fire? What was that explosion?" The spiky-haired boy could not hold back anymore and stepped forward to them, eyes sharp and focused.

The officer looked at the teen with a startled expression, "What's a student doing here?" He asked seriously, "Can't you see this area is now off limits?"

"I suppose, but still… I want to know what's happening," His eyes glanced at the burning building, before returning to the officer. "Who did this?"

"No more questions. You need to leave, now. Officer Kishimoto here will lead you to safety," Said official motioned for the man with the coat and the student to follow him while the first headed to the building's entrance.

"What's gonna happen to the people in the last floor?" Kamijou asked, truly concerned about their safety. The scientist looked expectant at the response as well.

"Two rescue choppers should be arriving soon. We're going to get them out of there from the roof," Kishimoto informed them. "Don't worry; no one is going to die today."

The officer's smile relieved both Kamijou and the scientist. Everything was under control and Kamijou was grateful for that. A few seconds passed before Kishimoto's walkie-talkie made a sound, drawing his attention. The officer took the device to his ear and spoke.

"What is it…? She's here? …Alright, this will make things easier," The man turned off the device and smirked. "Good news! The choppers are not going to be needed; an esper from Judgment with teleporting abilities will take them out."

"Thank goodness…" The man with the coat said weakly.

Ambulances and more Anti-Skill vans pulled up to the incident as paramedics began to attend to people injured with burns. To Kamijou's relief, none of them looked life-threatening.

It seemed he really was worried for nothing.

The official, Kishimoto, left both Kamijou and the scientist near an ambulance. Soon, paramedics brought to them two breathing masks, the coated man accepted it but Kamijou shook his head.

"I'm fine. Use it one someone else," The paramedic gave him a look and nodded.

"I guess you weren't inside then. Stay here though, I need to check on everyone else," The man with a dark blue uniform said before he left them.

Kamijou nodded. To see someone so focused on helping those in need always gave him hope for this messed-up world. Paramedics, firemen, officers and all who risked their lives to save people were always an inspiration to him. They were **heroes** , with or without powers.

Kamijou directed his eyes to the man dressed as a scientist, who had taken a seat on the ambulance's back. He removed his mask to cough a couple of times before putting it back again. The teen was relieved that everyone was being evacuated, but his mind still held some worry.

"You work in there, mister?" Kamijou addressed the man, who in turn did not bother to look back at him.

"Yes, but what's it to you?" His response was rude but Kamijou didn't care. He had questions and he was not going to let a rude response stop him from getting answers.

"That explosion… How did it happen?"

The man remained silent, only breathing deeply into the mask. Kamijou waited patiently for his answer but none came, so he asked again.

"Mister, wha-"

Kamijou was cut off when the man finally spoke, staring at him. The man's face showed tired eyes and a dark expression.

"Shouldn't you be in school at this hour?" The man stood up, leaving the breathing mask on the ambulance. "Don't tell me you are one of those delinquents who miss school classes intentionally."

"It's still kind of early… And I… I have an uncle that works in that building so… I was worried, I haven't seen him yet." Kamijou hated lying, but now that this man was dismissing him, it seemed to be the only way he could get some answers about what caused this mess.

"Hmm… I see. Your uncle must be one of those in the last floor, but you'll just have to wait," The scientist-looking man looked towards the top of the building. "My wife works here, too… On the last floor."

Kamijou blinked in realization. No wonder this man was so moody: Who wouldn't be worried about their wife being in danger? He felt a momentary pang of guilt for misleading someone so obviously upset, but having come so far, he just couldn't back down now.

"That explosion was an accident, right?" The young student asked, hoping for the affirmative answer that never came.

"Accident? This was not an accident!" The man's voice became a bit louder, "Those bastards did it!" With greeted teeth, he answered, looking obviously pissed.

Though hearing it aloud was disheartening, Kamijou had suspected as much, knowing well that accidents were very uncommon in AC. With such advanced technology, the security measures in labs and places alike were always top of the line. Only people with ill intentions could have caused this.

"Why did they do this? Who were they?"

"What, so now you're a cop and a delinquent?" The man led out an exasperated sigh.

"I need to know," Kamijou's serious gaze bored at the startled man, who finally cracked under its pressure.

"…I don't know… They were using masks…" He informed hesitantly, "They stole some components from the labs. One of them was an esper with pyrokinetic abilities, so you can imagine who caused that explosion."

"Where are they?" Kamijou pushed, "Were they caught?"

"I think Anti-Skill caught two of them with the help of a student, the others esca…ped…" His eyes widened, the man raised his hand and pointed his index behind Kamijou, "That car! That's the car I saw in the parking lot! It's theirs, it must be!"

The man ran to the closest official to deliver his warning as Kamijou spun around. Two Anti-Skill trucks moved quickly, and the chase was on.

The boy wasted mere seconds before running to where the vehicle was heading. He was acting on instinct, not really thinking about what he was doing. He knew he could do nothing to stop them but he could not ignore the fact that more people might get hurt without him. He veered away from the street to an alley, knowing full well he couldn't catch the speeding vehicle. But Kamijou's constant escapes from trouble gave him an impeccable memory of Academy City's shortcuts and he had the experience to guess where they were going.

The odds of guessing right were low, but he was determined to at least try. Kamijou ran with all his might, focused only on his destination when a loud noise sounded to the left and ahead.

"Damn it!" Kamijou cursed as he entered another alley, dreading the source of the bang. He turned left at the first chance and continued down the new path.

Just before reaching the end of the alley, Kamijou heard another explosion. Back out in the streets he ran across the block and noticed smoke coming from an Anti-Skill truck whereas the robber's vehicle had apparently crashed into an unsuspecting vehicle. All three law enforcers were incapacitated, but the criminals were nowhere to be found except for the unconscious driver.

Kamijou wasted no time and pressed on, avoiding the students in his way. Most of them were visibly stunned, not moving from where they stood, while others ran like hell to escape the danger.

"The driver's unconscious, go after the other four! Get medics to tend to the others!" A newly arrived member of Anti-Skill shouted to a group of six heavily armed colleagues. He noted in surprise that they all had rifles and grenades attached to their belts: it was the first time he had seen them carrying such weaponry.

The Anti-Skill unit moved without delay.

Kamijou scanned his surroundings, sighing in relief that no one looked like they were hurt. The bus's passengers were safe despite the crash and all Anti-Skill members seemed fine.

He could not say the same for the car's driver.

At this point, there was only one way these bastards could have gone to escape, and that was through **District 10** 's maze of abandoned buildings that ended in the only cemetery in AC. Kamijou moved forward.

"Hey you!" A voice called, making Kamijou stop on his tracks as he observed a member of Anti-Skill approaching. "You shouldn't be here, it's dangerous!"

_'Crap! I don't need this right now!'_

Kamijou sprinted to the left, quickly passing between the abandoned vehicle and the truck.

"W-wait! You can't go that way!" The same voice shouted.

_'That voice… Wasn't that…?'_

It was then that he recalled what he was doing and discarded the thought; he had no time to be distracted by nonsense. Kamijou suspected he was going to be followed by one or more of the law enforcement agents, so he entered another dark alley to lose them.

One question popped into his head in the moment he entered the alley.

Why was he even doing this? Those guys crashed their car and now they were escaping on foot with a team of armed Anti-Skill units hot on their heels. Was he really necessary? He was just an unfortunate student with a strange power in his right hand. He had no obligation to get involved, and yet he could not just stand by while they threatened innocent people.

He just couldn't. He never did, and he wasn't about to start now.

With newfound determination, Kamijou Touma took his first step towards the unknown.

**PART 6**

A plan was what Kamijou needed when he finally found the group that attacked that building. He was observing them carefully while hiding behind some crates. There were four of them and from what he could see, they were arguing loudly.

All of them were of short stature with the exception of a man leaning casually against a wall. They all had the same outfits composed of black pants and dark brown jackets, as well as those black masks the scientist mentioned.

"That was not supposed to happen!" Suddenly one of them shouted again, making another in front of him visibly flinch.

"I know! These Anti-Skill bastards are a pain in the ass! What the fuck are we going to do now?"

The man leaning to the wall stood still, crossing his arms. "There's no use bitching now," He said dryly, "Let's just keep moving."

The other three nodded and followed him into a street on their left. The abandoned tall buildings on this part of the city blocked all light, making the area a suitable place for thugs to hide or use as a getaway. A certain spiky-haired boy knew this area quite well, using these dark streets and alleys several times to escape from gangs. He could guess where they were heading.

_'Hmm… That way is… Heh… This could work…'_

Kamijou smirked.

"Heh, I must be going crazy!" He ventured a short distance before going down an obscure street; he knew very well it would take him to a narrow alley where he could intercept his quarry.

The boy knew equally well that he was putting life in danger by doing this, but Anti-Skill was nowhere to be seen and just letting the criminals go was not an option. He had to do something to stop them, and he would do it no matter what.

Though panting lightly, Kamijou kept up his pace, keeping track of the thugs from a safe distance. In his left hand he grasped the lid of a trash can that he found on the way, it was a large round metal top with a handle and was surprisingly easy to handle as a shield. It must have been made of some resilient Academy City alloy, to look so sturdy despite its thinness.

_'Now if only this was imbued with godly heroic power…'_

Kamijou had never fought an esper capable of pyrokinesis before. His makeshift defense could increase his chances of surviving, in case his right hand was unable to negate that power in time.

Having finally reached an intersection that connected three narrow alleys together, Kamijou realized that this was the perfect place for a surprise attack. Even if it was four against one, he had the advantage in a dark, constricted place like this.

He noticed something moving far away down the alley. As he suspected, the thugs were coming quickly, and all Kamijou could do was wait patiently for them to arrive. He pressed himself behind a wall and closed his eyes, focusing on the echoing sounds of their footsteps.

Nearly a minute passed, and with each passing second their steps echoed louder and louder. The moment of confrontation was at hand and Kamijou found himself getting nervous. Yet it was not the time to have second thoughts, and he could not back out now even if he wanted to.

The sound of a steps passing the corner where he hid was the signal to act.

Kamijou swung his entire body like a pendulum with his right fist out, putting his body weight into the blow and launching it forward to slam into the face of the first passing thug. The thug's own momentum and the force put into the blow meant that they stood no chance. A painful crunching sound rang out, indicating the thug's nose was broken and the criminal fell backwards to the ground and remained still.

"What the-" The second man registered in shock as Kamijou continued his assault, stepping over the first criminal. The unfortunate boy had misjudged the distance between him and the enemy, giving the man time to level a gun. But Kamijou didn't hesitate and pressed on.

Putting his newly acquired 'shield' in front of him, Kamijou blocked the incoming gun shots, each bullet impacting with the piece of metal with a loud clang. Either the metal lid was truly tough or the gun had low enough caliber to not pierce the makeshift shield, he wasn't going to question it.

The teen reached the man in mere seconds and bashed the man with the trash can lid, knocking the two behind him down like a tangled mess of dominoes. The gun fell from the thug's grip and Kamijou kicked it away from his grasp. Two savage stomps to the face put the second man out of commission.

Kamijou then quickly picked up the pistol, careful to not touch the trigger and stood on his feet, steadily aiming the pistol at the two remaining thieves with his right hand while lifting his 'shield' in his left. He blinked in mild surprise upon seeing their faces, guessing these two must have removed their masks at some point before they came here. The taller man had long black hair tied back firmly while the one behind him had short dark red hair and was wearing a black bandana. They were unexpectedly young.

"Who the fuck are you?" The closer man asked aggressively, though in contrast Kamijou remained impassively silent. A few tense seconds passed without any sort of response coming from him as the thug looked at him closely. "Wait, you've gotta be just a student… One of those shitty Judgment agents."

"It doesn't matter who am I, you hurt people and I won't let you get away with it," Kamijou said menacingly, taking one step forward, "That's all you need to know."

Both thugs grit their teeth, and Kamijou knew why. He had complete control of the situation.

"We shouldn't have let that dickhead bring a pistol. Now we're screwed," The thug behind the tall one commented, clearly annoyed.

Unexpectedly for the thugs, the young boy aimed the handgun to the sky and shot every last bullet in the clip. The thug stood dumbfounded for a few seconds before they reacted.

"Why would you... That pistol was your only chance of taking us down, and you just wasted it," The tall man smirked darkly, cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

"I would never shoot someone, so no," Kamijou replied easily. "I never even expected a gun in the first place when I decided to chase after you."

"Really?" A tone of incredulity adorned the thug's voice, "Well, that shield you used makes me think otherwise, but it doesn't matter now."

"I actually was planning to use it against the esper in your group," Kamijou replied uncaringly.

For being in such a dangerous situation, Kamijou felt oddly calm, if only because everything was going smoothly. However, the taller man of the two began to laugh.

"You know we have an esper among us? You really have been following us," The man turned to his companion with a twisted expression. "You heard? He was going to use that against you, can you believe it?"

_'This guy…'_

This was the second time this day he had misjudged someone. The man that seemed to be their leader looked level-headed when Kamijou saw him a while ago. Now he was acting psychotic. At least he now knew who the esper among those two was.

"Now that you have mentioned it, I guess it won't work then."

"What a dumbass. You really shouldn't have wasted the ammo of that pistol," The black-haired thug whispered, his voice taking on a creepy lilt.

"I haven't wasted it. The noise will help Anti-Skill get here. Although your friend may have already done that, I was just making sure they could find their way here," Kamijou punctuated his bold plan by letting the emptied gun slip from his grip, clattering to the ground while still holding the lid up.

Once again, both thugs were shocked. However, Kamijou was as surprised as the criminal to see that his plan worked so well.

It was only a matter of time now before the criminals would be caught, now. And they knew it.

"You bastard, piece of shit! I'll kill you!" The man in front of him roared, lunging towards him like some sort of wild animal.

Kamijou did not falter and moved to meet him head on. The crazy thug threw a punch at his face, Kamijou just lifted his makeshift shield and blocked the blow. A painful sounding crack rang out as fist met with metal and the thug backpedalled, yelling in pain while trying to nurse his broken hand.

Kamijou wasn't done, though.

As the man stumbled backwards, Kamijou charged forwards with his shield up like a battering ram. The man, still occupied by his broken hand didn't manage to dodge in time and was hit with a right hook to the face, breaking his nose. And yet the man didn't fall over and continued standing, if barely.

_'I guess I can't hold back with this one.'_

Now blinded by pain, the man lashed out wildly, trying to catch the bastard who did this to him. Kamijou easily dodged the wild swings and bashed forward once again. This time, the man knelt due to pain and his lack of breath, and Kamijou took full advantage of it by kicking his opponent square in the face with a forward kick. The blow knocked him backwards and he hit the ground hard. He finally lay still, groaning weakly.

_'Three down, one more to go.'_

With this done, Kamijou took a step back and readied his shield for the final confrontation. To his surprise, the last thug was smiling.

"I gotta admit that was impressive," A voice echoed in the alleyway, "You took him out in just seconds, and all three of them in less than a minute."

"Why are you smiling? Isn't he your friend?" Kamijou questioned.

"Friend?" The last thug shook his head slightly and closed his eyes. "None of them are. I only did this for the money… although the girl you punched first was pretty cute."

Kamijou's eyes widened, not expecting a girl in the group. _'Those damn masks… Maybe I shouldn't have used that much strength in the first hit…'_ He turned around to see her body lying prone on the ground and upon closer inspection could clearly recognize her slender build.

"You're good, I guess. You took us by surprise, planned an ambush in a place like this, and now I'm the only one left," The thug resumed talking, looking amused, "This is very troublesome, you know?"

"Troublesome is what you did in that building! People could have died!" Kamijou shouted furiously.

"Could have?" The red-haired esper blinked. "So no one died? Lame…"

He yawned, seemingly not bothered by the thought of taking a life. Kamijou couldn't believe the words coming from the bastard's mouth; even a petty reason like causing a distraction would be understandable, but the lack of empathy his enemy seemed proud of was horrible to witness.

"Why?" Kamijou's voice betrayed the deep rage he began to feel.

"What can I say? I have this awesome ability, you know?" The redhead raised a hand as a tiny ball of fire materialized on it, "I'm just a level 2 and I can blow anything away with it! Imagine what I could do if I became a level 5! I would be like…"

That had crossed a line. Kamijou was really pissed, and though the irksome blabbering continued, his ears became deaf to the thug's senseless speech. In that instant, his mind only held one thought.

He wanted to knock some sense into such a stupid world view.

"You hold such power and yet you use it for that!?" He yelled angrily, "Who the hell do you think you are, lowlife!?" Kamijou stepped forward in fury, continuing his tirade, "Do you really think that you can do this kind of crap and get away with it?"

Kamijou glared at the thug who flinched and retreated several steps back. His face registered fear for a second before he returned the glare, regaining his confidence.

"You… you're dead," The red-haired esper promised bluntly as the ball of fire in his hand expanded, its twin appearing in the other.

Kamijou expected it, but the concentrated sphere of fire remained menacing, illuminating the dismal alleyway.

The esper threw both balls of fire as one and Kamijou moved to meet them head on. He raised the hand that held the shield while also readying the Imagine Breaker and prepared himself for impact.

It was at that moment that his bad luck presented itself in the form of a soda can. Kamijou tripped on it, falling on his back abruptly. The balls of fire passed above him and impacted on the far wall, dispersing harmlessly and dissipating in the air.

Kamijou picked up the shield and rose to his feet quickly and glanced at the unconscious girl; he was relieved to see her fine. For a moment he thought the fire could have spread to where she was.

"That's what I call luck," The esper thug commented as another ball of fire blazed in his hand. "Seriously… what were you thinking by going directly towards the fire, huh? You're nuts, dude, nuts."

"Maybe… Yeah, maybe I'm crazy… But I can assure you I'm not lucky, not in the slightest." He smiled to himself as if recalling something before his gaze hardened again. "That's not going to stop me though."

To some, the narrow save his fall provided would have indeed been lucky, but the only thing that Kamijou got from this fall was the pain he now had in his back. There remained the chance that his hand could have failed to negate the fiery attack but he didn't even care now, he only wanted to hit the thug real hard.

"I have wasted too much time with you. I still have to deliver this, you know?" The fire esper said, eyeing the bag hanging from his shoulder.

Kamijou raised the shield while looking at his right hand, furious eyes boring holes into his enemy, "This world doesn't need people that hurt others, much less those that only do it for entertainment. If you ever though for a mere second that you're just gonna walk away from this like nothing ever happened…"

Kamijou formed a tight fist and bellowed.

"Then I'll destroy that screwed-up illusion of yours!"

Kamijou sprinted towards him again as the pyro esper motioned his left hand and threw a fireball while readying his right. This time, his shield met with the esper's projectile, and Kamijou threw away the now too hot to be useful shield as he continued sprinting towards the esper. Another fireball soon followed and the moment it connected with his upraised right hand, a high pitched noise rang out followed by the sound of broken glass.

In that instant the fire in front of him just evaporated, like it never existed.

The boy with the Imagine Breaker smirked while the fire esper's eyes widened, the shocked expression on his face was all Kamijou needed to see. This was the part he liked the most, the look his opponents sported upon seeing the power they depended so much on simply disappear before their eyes. It would never get old, this feeling of humbling the cruel.

"What the fuck!?" His voice broke, but he still stood where he was. More fireballs blazed into life to be thrown at the spiky-haired boy coming for him but it was useless. Like the first one, they all disappeared upon reaching his mysterious hand.

"This…!? This is bullshit! Bulls-"

The thug's vulgar words were cut off when Kamijou's fist impacted with his face, sending him backwards and onto the ground. Kamijou stood ready for a possible counterattack but it did not come, his one blow knocking the esper completely unconscious.

Kamijou scanned the area around him. The four thugs were lying on the ground; he had taken them out by himself. He had done it, despite his own doubts.

The young hero sighed and relaxed his body, glad it was over.

"All of them by yourself…? Amazing… But still pretty reckless."

Kamijou froze, a new voice came from behind him, and it was quite close.

_'Was there another one?'_

Not wasting a moment, he turned around and threw a wild punch towards the new enemy, which was stopped with two hands.

"Hey, wait! Why are you attacking me?"

Kamijou held back from delivering another blow as he finally got a good view of the person who had startled him. It was a female Anti-Skill officer wearing an armoured uniform. Said woman had long dark-bluish hair tied into a ponytail.

"Y-Yo-Yomikawa-sensei?"

The Anti-Skill member called **Yomikawa Aiho** , was also the PE teacher in Kamijou's school. He blinked as she crossed her arms over her chest. She stepped closer and observed him before a smile spread across her face.

"Aren't you from Komoe's class?" The busty woman asked.

_'Shit! Could this get any worse?'_

"Well… I think I am…" Kamijou replied with a nervous tone, aware that his troubles had just begun. A teacher from his school saw him brawling with thugs after all.

"You think?" Her gaze narrowed.

Kamijou looked away from her as his brain began to formulate a good excuse for what happened regarding the four unconscious persons on the ground. None came to mind unfortunately.

"…Y-Yeah, I'm from Komoe-sensei's class…"

"Hmmm?" She made a humming sound, as if amused, "Are you hurt? I heard some gunshots…" The woman asked, her voice conveying a worried tone.

"I'm fine."

She stared at him for a minute, her eyes making her doubt clear.

"Are you sure?" Yomikawa asked as she motioned her face towards his. Her eyes were pretty but they still held a serious look in them, which made them very intimidating. He reflected on the nice contrast it made.

"Yeah…"

Kamijou didn't move from where he was standing.

"If you don't mind…" Yomikawa eyed the space behind him with a raised brow.

Kamijou hurriedly nodded as he got the message, squeezing his body against the wall to give the woman enough space to pass. If nothing else, this narrow alley would give him yet another experience he would not forget in the days to come.

Yomikawa pressed her back to the opposite wall, slowly walking sideways. As she did so, her large breasts rubbed against Kamijou's chest. Though certainly awkward it also felt nice, even if they were safely protected behind armour. For her part, Yomikawa didn't show any sign of noticing what just happened.

When the woman finally passed to the other side of the alley, much to Kamijou's relief, she stood there and observed the scene before her. The young boy shook his head slightly, clearing his mind as his worries increased. The woman's continuing silence only worsened his paranoia.

"You did manage to beat them all. Not bad, kid," Yomikawa finally turned her head to the side, her only visible eye focused on him. "Can I ask you something?"

"…What is it?"

"How did you stop his fire attacks? I'm pretty sure that I saw him using his esper abilities against you. There's no way you could have avoided them in a place like this."

"Well…" At this point, Kamijou could only tell her the truth.

Kamijou did avoid the first by falling to the ground, so in a way, it was possible, as for the rest however… Suddenly, the woman turned around and looked at him, obviously waiting for his answer.

"So?" She urged.

"I'm not sure if I can explain it, and I don't even know how it happens," He hesitated, albeit shortly, "My right hand can negate other esper abilities," He revealed finally, eyes darting, "That much I can tell you."

"You're telling me that you stopped his fire attacks with your bare hand?" With a tone dripping in disbelief, she gazed at him intently, "What is your level as an esper?" Yomikawa questioned, visibly not convinced.

"…I'm a level 0."

Her eyes narrowed, face showing irritation. Kamijou couldn't blame her really, for not believing him that is. Most of the time, he couldn't even believe it himself. This strange power was there, stuck in his hand, but it could not be detected by anything.

"Do you expect me to believe that?" She sighed, Kamijou gulped, "Why are you here anyway? Facing a group of thugs who are obviously dangerous and you did it by yourself," Yomikawa frowned. "Are you from Judgment?"

"Judgment?" He repeated, slightly surprised, "No! No… I'm not," The interrogation had begun, and he dreaded having to go through it at all one more time, like every other time he got mixed up in Anti-Skill's work.

"So why did you get involved in this?" Yomikawa inquired, putting a hand on her hip, "Those gunshots… Who fired them?"

"Ehh… Well… One of them shot first… Then I did."

The woman blinked several times before sighing again, troubled.

_'My rotten luck!'_

Kamijou cursed in his mind as he wondered why of all the Anti-Skill members, his sensei had to be the one to find him in this situation.

"Explain yourself."

Kamijou directed his eyes to the ground and scratched the back of his head; this was going to be difficult.

"…Well… I took it fr-"

"Hold on, this is not the time or the place to talk. Give me your cell phone," Yomikawa interrupted him as she extended her hand to him.

"Wha… Why?" Kamijou twitched slightly.

"My team is coming soon," The woman answered, "You should leave now before they arrive if you want to save yourself some trouble. Maybe you haven't noticed but it's 9:04 already, and you still have to attend to your classes, don't you?" Yomikawa took Kamijou's phone from his hand when he pocketed it out, "I want your contact information so I can reach you later and ask some more questions in detail."

"But, eh… Do you really need it sensei?" Kamijou asked, confused, "I mean, we could just talk at school, right?"

"I won't be able to go today due to my work in Anti-Skill," She responded, keeping her expression gentle, "I'll call you before curfew to meet up, okay? The sooner we talk, the better so… Don't make any plans."

Yomikawa fiddled with both his cell and hers, transferring his phone number to her contact list and vice-versa. She returned him his phone and he stared at the new contact, wondering why she wanted to meet him so badly today. They could just talk tomorrow, so why the rush...?

"Now, go! Your worried friend's waiting for you," The woman urged. "Hurry!"

Kamijou could only nod before leaving, running as fast as his legs would take him to escape the scene.

_'…Wait… did she say someone was waiting for me? Nah… I don't think so… Who would? Maybe those gunshots messed up my hearing…'_

Kamijou tried to convince himself that he must have heard wrong. Seriously, who could be waiting for him anyway? And why would they in the first place? He was the kind of guy with few friends, and those he did have weren't so fond of him that they'd worry for him. In the end the teen decided to put those thoughts aside and finally left the abandoned alley maze.

"I bet no one's going to believe me back at school," He whined, slumping his shoulders upon reaching his school, "I'm so screwed… Fukou da…"

"You're right, Kamijou… No one would..." The boy froze, this was the second time in this day he have heard that voice, and it belonged to a certain scary classmate, "But I do…"

"Wha!?"

Kamijou recalled what his sensei said to him before leaving. She was apparently referring to Fukiyose.

_'A friend, she said? Is that so?'_ Despite being classmates, Kamijou couldn't really tell what she was to him. By the way she acted and reacted during classes, Kamijou had come to the understanding that she hated him. Could he really consider Fukiyose a friend?

"F-Fukiyose!?" He stammered, getting rather nervous, "What are you doing here? You should be in class, you know."

"I could say the same thing," The busty girl's tone was cold and dry. "So… This is what you do…"

"Do…? Do what?" Kamijou rubbed the back of his neck, trying to feign ignorance. Eventually, he averted his eyes from hers as he now scratched his left cheek.

"Don't play dumb with me, Kamijou," Fukiyose fumed, narrowing her eyes. "I saw it all."

This was bad. This time he felt he was going to get killed by her for sure, but what could he possibly do now? He left her at the entrance of his school and missed homeroom, not to mention that she probably saw his encounter with the thugs, which was honestly much worse than anything else.

"By 'all' you mean…?" He tried to gain some time before the inevitable end.

Fukiyose bit her lip and asked, "Why did you risk your life doing something like that? They could have killed you… Why not let Anti-Skill deal with them?"

He couldn't answer.

Suddenly, she stepped forward towards him. Kamijou knew what was going to happen and his body reacted on instinct. He shut his eyes and raised his arms defensively. He could only wait for the ass-kicking Fukiyose was going to give him, but something unexpected happened.

No pain came, so she didn't hit him yet, but he felt something… To be more precise, his hands felt it. It was something soft and bouncy… _'The texture… Was this…? Some kind of fabric?'_ He still had his eyes closed and didn't dare to open them yet. Kamijou moved his hands to sense a bit more, whatever he was touching was big and… round…? Each hand was grabbing something that had the same form and size.

_'What is this…? Wait… This… T-this is…!'_

Kamijou suddenly opened his eyes as he realized just what he was touching. Now he knew that he was a dead man for certain. The fact that he was grabbing Fukiyose's chest registered on his mind, while the girl just stared at his hands with a blank expression. It did not take long for her to react.

An uppercut connected with Kamijou's chin, the force behind it making him fall backwards, roughly landing on his back and butt.

"Kamijou… Why do you always…?" Fukiyose's voice trailed off, looking incredibly disgusted.

It took a couple of seconds for Kamijou to move, but when he did he massaged his face and sat up on the ground.

He was kind of used to this kind of treatment when dealing with her, but it didn't mean that it didn't hurt. No matter how familiar, it still hurt like hell. Though he had to admit that most of the time, it was his fault, or the fault of his two friends, creating a ruckus in class for one reason or another.

Jokes about his daily beatings aside, Kamijou considered his experiences in class as one of the sources of his great endurance, so it had unexpected benefits despite the pain. But that thinking would remain safely inside his own mind, because it sounded a bit weird even in his rattled state.

"I guess there's no use denying it anymore," Kamijou gazed back at her without blinking, "I wanted to do it… Ah, stopping those guys, I mean…" He immediately backpedalled on his words as he realised how he could be misunderstood, "Not about touching your… Eh…"

"Just shut up and listen!" Fukiyose yelled.

Still sitting on the ground, Kamijou nodded and gave her his full attention. He noticed his book bag hanging on her left hand. He must have dropped it when he ran off from school.

"You're reckless! First, you run away from school, and then you decide to go check that explosion!? What if others occurred after the first and you were caught in them?"

"But-" He tried to give an excuse, but his classmate spoke even louder.

"Not to mention that fight you had with those delinquents! What were you thinking, seriously?" She folded her arms in ire, "No! You weren't thinking at all! You are so irresponsible! Argh!" Fukiyose glared at him, her hands now gripped her skirt, "You are going to drive me crazy, Kamijou!"

The annoyed teen sighed as the lecture continued. She was right about everything but alas, that's how he was. Kamijou hated getting into trouble, yet he always ended neck deep in it.

He reflected on it for a moment, and realized how serious he was when it came to helping somebody, to stopping those who harmed them. His own terrible experiences in the past made his resolve firm; he could never stand for others enduring more of the same.

Mind cleared, Kamijou decided to tell her how he truly felt about his actions, confronting her once and for all. He breathed deeply and stood up, ignoring her continued rant.

"Listen!" Kamijou's sharp voice cut through Fukiyose's speech, his tone startling the school girl who was universally feared. Strangely, he felt none of the usual dread that her presence usually created, "Those bastards behind the mess in that building almost killed some people. Who knows what more they could have done if they had escaped."

Fukiyose's eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms, not saying anything in return. Kamijou took that as a cue to continue.

"I know it's not my business. The authorities are here to take care of those situations, after all. But… I just can't look away when someone gets hurt," Kamijou's determination to say it all was taking hold, "Sure, I could have died, but if I had allowed them to escape and cause more suffering, maybe even the possible death of others in the future, I would never forgive myself."

Kamijou looked directly at her eyes as she stared back at him. She looked annoyed, and he knew his argument wasn't over. It was time to take a stand.

"I don't regret doing this and I never will," Kamijou raised his right hand and formed a fist. "I'll continue to help people, even if it costs me my life," His resolute voice made her blink in surprise, if only because he had never spoken to her in that way before. "If you want to stop me, then hit me so hard that I will never wake up again. That's the only way you'll keep me from doing it all again next time, because I assure you, today won't be the last."

"Don't you care about your own life at all?" Fukiyose asked, dropping her gaze and taking a step closer to him, although hesitantly.

"I do, and I'll do anything in my power to stay alive… While helping other people. I may be reckless, stupid, irresponsible, an idiot and all that, but I will never be someone who turns his back on people when they need help."

Fukiyose's eyes widened, the focus they often held faltering against the fierce light of his own.

"This is my way of living," The unfortunate student known as Kamijou Touma finally stated, a sincere smile spread across his face.

Fukiyose stood in front of him speechless, not even blinking. Kamijou readied himself as he was sure she was going to hit him again, but being truthful to her lifted a weight off of his shoulders. A whole minute passed, her silence began to trouble him.

_'Why hasn't she punched me yet?'_

Many things occurred during the morning, most of them bad and sudden, but the smirk that unexpectedly emerged in Fukiyose's face showed him that even in unfortunate days like this, the most minute of things could make one happy.

"Well…" She tilted her head to the side, smiling sweetly, "That's some attitude, Kamijou… But..." She breathed, as if relieved. "That's what I wanted to hear. I'm… I'm proud of you."

"R-really?" He could not believe it.

"Yes. Despite all your whining about your 'misfortune' in school, you've shown me today that nothing stops you from doing what you think is right, not even your bad luck," She made an unexpectedly cute expression that caught him off guard, making him scratch his cheek.

"Th-thanks…" Kamijou replied with a nervous tone while averting his gaze.

When his eyes finally returned to her, he noticed she was staring at him from head to toe, making Kamijou feel even more uncomfortable than before.

"You're not hurt, are you? Those shots…"

"Huh? No, no. I'm fine."

"Is your back okay? I saw you falling to the ground and I thought that you…" Fukiyose sounded awfully concerned, which was honestly a bit confusing to him.

Two questions sprang to Kamijou's mind at that moment, but decided he would addressed them later.

"As you can see, I'm perfectly fine," He spoke reassuringly, "Don't worry about this Kamijou-san."

Fukiyose looked at him with eyes of suspicion, but only until she extended her hand holding his book bag. The boy glanced at his bag and then at her, confused.

"Then… C'mon. Let's go."

Some seconds passed before Kamijou sighed, a resigned smile forming slowly. She remained silent until he finally nodded and received his bag gratefully.

"Yeah."

Both students walked back to their school, chatting about school stuff, healthy food and the loli tastes of a certain perverted classmate. Nothing about Kamijou's incident was mentioned, which was odd and more than a little unnerving.

He honestly had expected her to be a little more inquisitive about today's events in that alley. Maybe she didn't see him dispelling the fire with his hand; maybe she was saving these questions for another time. Kamijou could only guess.

**PART 7**

It was 9:38 A.M. Kamijou and Fukiyose were waiting in the hallway outside their class. To his relief, they didn't have any problem entering school thanks to his homeroom teacher, **Tsukiyome Komoe** , who told them that Yomikawa called on their behalf and asked them to not be punished for their late arrival.

"I guess we were lucky," Fukiyose commented, watching some students through the windows that extended along the hallway.

_'Me, lucky… Hah!'_ Kamijou always thought it was hilarious whenever someone would say that to him, that makes twice today.

"I certainly don't think so," A chuckle escaped from Kamijou's lips as he rested his back on a wall, "Anyway Fukiyose, can I ask you something… about what happened earlier?"

The busty dark-haired girl glanced at him before returning her eyes to the window.

"Go ahead," She simply said.

"Ok…" He cleared his throat, "You followed me all the way since I left the school, right?" Kamijou felt the need to ask, he was getting more and more curious about why she hasn't asked more questions about his escapade.

"Yes, I did. You have a problem with that?" Fukiyose twitched an eyebrow.

"No, of course not. But… Why did you follow me? You almost got yourself into trouble for doing it. You could have stopped me anytime."

Fukiyose did not say a word, so he assumed she wasn't going to answer his question despite the fact that she allowed him to ask it.

_'This girl is really troublesome…'_ But his train of thought was interrupted when her voice reached his ear shot.

"I could have… But I chose not to do it," Fukiyose admitted. "I just needed to see with my own eyes what you planned to do. I mean, you always give incredibly far fetched excuses when you come late to class, so when the chance to discover the truth behind them presented itself, I took it."

"You needed to see…?" There was a flicker of uncertainty on his eyes. Hers in contrast displayed conviction, "Why?"

"I was worried about you, of course!" She exclaimed, lowering her head slightly, "As your classmate and friend, to see you don't deviate from the good road is my obligation."

The busty girl folded her arms over her notable chest and approached him, standing face to face. Her serious demeanour showed him that she wasn't joking about it. She truly considered him a friend, and from this day onward, he would do the same.

"I see…" Kamijou muttered, and finally looked at her directly in the eyes. "Thanks and… Sorry for making you worry."

Odd as it may have been, they both stared into each other's eyes after he said that in silence. This was the first time Kamijou had the chance to appreciate her cute face. He had to admit that he might be getting carried away with the pleasant atmosphere.

"S-so…" The spiky-haired boy averted his eyes away from hers and scratched his head, "I imagine you met Yomikawa-sensei along the way."

"Yeah, when I saw you chasing after those guys, I ran to find some help… Then I heard the gunshots…" Fukiyose's voice trailed off.

Kamijou raised an eyebrow as Fukiyose's gaze fell to the floor. She looked depressed; this was the first time he saw her like that and he didn't like it. Before he could ask what was wrong, she continued.

"I feared the worst… So I returned to where I last saw you. That's when I met with Yomikawa-sensei," Fukiyose's face became serious, yet he could still tell that she looked sad. "I told her everything I knew and-

"You heard more gunshots," Kamijou added.

The girl was startled by Kamijou's interruption, but then nodded.

"Yomikawa-sensei told me to wait there and left, running to where those gunshots came…" Fukiyose elaborated, "I couldn't wait, so I ran after her."

"What happened then?"

Kamijou never heard her reply as the door of his class was opened. A little girl with pink hair and matching eyes appeared from it.

"Kamijou-chan, Fukiyose-chan… You may enter-desu," The little girl said to them.

Kamijou glanced at her and nodded. It was still difficult to believe that this little kawaii girl was actually his homeroom teacher. Tsukuyomi Komoe was considered to be one of the seven wonders in his school due to her appearance.

"Komoe-sensei," Fukiyose addressed her as she entered the class. "I'm really sorry for coming this late. It won't happen again."

"I already told you it's fine. Aiho-chan explained me everything so don't worry-desu."

Kamijou did not move as he was hesitant to enter the class. He could already imagine all the crap his two friends were going to bring up from his late arrival.

"Don't just stand in there, Kamijou-chan. Come in," Komoe motioned him to enter.

"Right…" He muttered slowly.

As he did so, the expected reactions from his classmates occurred.

"Kami-yan! What were you doing, eh? Hitting on girls again before coming to school? Really, you don't know when to stop-nya!"

Kamijou directed his eyes to a blond-haired boy sitting, where else, on the unfortunate boy's own desk. The idiot was **Tsuchimikado Motoharu** , and sadly one of Kamijou's few friends. He was wearing his usual sunglasses and the school uniform for summer.

"I would say the same if not for the fact that ya came together with Fukiyose. I can't believe it! Fukiyose has succumbed to the Kami-yan disease," Another student spoke with a fake Kansai accent. He was sadly another friend of Kamijou's.

**Aogami Pierce** was his name; he had blue hair and wore a non-regulation yellow shirt under his uniform. He, together with Tsuchimikado and the good-looking Kamijou, were regarded as the **Idiot Trio** by some people who knew them, or the **Delta Force** as they preferred to be called. The unfortunate boy chose for once to ignore their comments, while Fukiyose did the usual.

Only two minutes passed before Tsuchimikado and Aogami were punished for their usual stupidity and insinuations by none other than Fukiyose, who was known among her peers as **'The Iron Wall Girl'**. The two idiots were lying unconscious on the ground with huge lumps on their heads.

"Everyone! Stop messing around and get in your seats or I'll call a telepath and expose all your dirty secrets." Komoe announced with a cold smile.

With haste, every student in the class took their respective seats with the exception of two unconscious idiots.

"As you all must remember, exams are coming soon before the summer break so all of you, do your best to get good grades, okay?" The little teacher directed her eyes to one unlucky spiky-haired boy looking aimlessly through the window at his left side, "Kamijou-chan! Pay attention or I'll make you stay all night-desu!"

"W-wait Komoe-sensei, I was listening! You just said something about the upcoming exams, right?" He hastily said, barely recalling Komoe's words.

"…Alright, let's continue with the class then-desu."

Kamijou sighed. To think that all the crazy stuff happened in just a few hours, he hoped that nothing more would occur. Still, the dreaded feeling remained as he knew it was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all had enjoyed the start of the new road of misfortune of the Imagine Breaker Boy. Always support the original series. Reviews, inquiries or any comments are always welcomed. Thanks for giving this story some of your time. I truly appreciate it.
> 
> \- Frank


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As most of you may wonder, this story begins even before the events of the Railgun canon, which means that Touma has yet to meet the Magic side.
> 
> Also, I should mention that some of the events you all know may have already changed or not due to the accident Touma suffered when trying to get that cat... why you wonder? Because Touma moved to AC one week later than it should have been. This means that the absence of our unfortunate hero in AC during that week had already started changing the future events to come, like Kongou befriending both Wannai and Awatsuki at an earlier time or Touma meeting Kongou for that matter.
> 
> Have a great reading!
> 
> \- Frank

**The Scarlet Flowers on the Castle: _HEAVY,-Choice_JUSTICE_**

**PART 1**

_'Finally… break time.'_

It has been three long hours since classes began for Kamijou and he was already on the verge of falling prey to the Mistress of Dreams. Luckily for him, their midday break saved him from the punishment he surely would have received for falling asleep in class.

The one thing keeping him awake was the talk about the explosion at 'a nearby building'. It was a hot topic among Kamijou's classmates, but to his relief, no one mentioned anything that implied any connection to his tardiness. He was eternally grateful that Fukiyose for once chose to remain silent about it rather than use it as a chance to nag him.

Kamijou yawned as he stretched his limbs, trying to rid his body of its numbness, before taking his first bite from his bento.

"Kami-yan!" Tsuchimikado called out, but Kamijou decided to ignore it and continued to eat his food, "Hey, Kami-yan!"

"Just because Fukiyose is under your control doesn't mean ya can ignore us," Another voice followed the first, this one belonging to Aogami.

"I don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about," Kamijou responded before shoveling more curry rice into his mouth.

Both of Touma's friends stood in front of him with arms crossed, a serious expression on their faces for likely some stupid reason.

"What? You think you're so popular that you don't want to talk with us?" Tsuchimikado gritted his teeth, "We knew you were a playboy and we respected that, but we never expected you to be someone who forgets his friends for just becoming popular-nya. Not cool, Kami-yan, not cool."

_'Yep… A stupid reason indeed.'_

"First… What are you two talking about?" He directed a blank stare at the two pests, "Second… What the hell are you two really talking about?" Kamijou rolled his eyes, "And third, aren't you exaggerating things a bit?"

"We're not exaggerating anything. If not, then why'd ya come so late to class and why was Fukiyose with ya?" Asked Aogami with suspicion.

Kamijou knew that was going to be hard to answer with a lie, and the truth wasn't going to help. The whole mess that occurred this morning was something anyone would consider unbelievable, even more so since it involved the power he used to defeat the fire esper. Fukiyose knew part of the truth but for some reason he felt that involving her would only make things worse for the both of them, so a lie was the only option.

"I overslept… And Fukiyose… Overslept… too… I guess…? I met her at the entrance, so… That's all," No matter how he tried, Kamijou was not being convincing at all and he knew it. "Stop imagining stuff."

Both students gazed at him suspiciously, though they said nothing. Their continued stare began to grate his nerves.

"Stop looking at me like that, damn it!" He snapped.

"It's so hard to believe but well, it's yar business," The bluehead commented as he simply returned to his seat, which seemed uncharacteristic of Aogami. Kamijou was pretty sure that the lolicon normally would have continued to bother him all day. The difference disturbed him, but he decided to count his blessings.

"You're right! It is my business, so stop bugging me and let me eat my bento," Kamijou said with a bored tone, grabbing a couple of tiny potatoes from his homemade food, "Just let me be, ok?"

"You disappoint me, Kami-yan," The blond student said, his gaze supposedly still upon him. With those glasses, Kamijou could only guess to where Tsuchimikado's eyes were really looking.

"Geez, you're such a pain in the ass…" Kamijou growled, "Can't I enjoy my lunch during break?"

The blonde opened his mouth but no words came from him. Cold sweat began to run down his face and his expression changed completely, startling Kamijou.

"What's wrong?" The Imagine-Breaker boy asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" A new voice spoke from the class's entry door, and Kamijou turned his eyes to its source.

The newcomer was Fukiyose, who left the class for 'who knows what' when the bell's ring marked the beginning of break. Having returned, she glared at the boy with glasses, who in turn sweated more and more by the minute.

"So… Kamijou is controlling me, huh?" Her voice was dry, face serious, and the fists she formed foretold the massacre that was coming.

"I don't have anything to do with what they said! These two are making up stuff!" Kamijou almost shouted; he had to prove his innocence before the bloodshed began.

"Ya sellin' us out now, Kami-yan? That's pretty low of ya," Aogami spoke with obvious fear on his voice.

"Tch! I understand now why you let Kami-yan' go so easily, Aogami!" Tsuchimikado yelled, glaring daggers at his classmate, "You saw her from the beginning and didn't warn me, you bastard-nya!"

The blue-haired boy turned his face to the other side, shamelessly whistling in innocence. Tsuchimikado grit his teeth at his indirect confession while Kamijou palmed his face.

"I'm gonna kick your ass, Aogami!"

Tsuchimikado made his way to Aogami and grabbed him by the shirt. These two were about to start a brawl in front of the Iron Wall girl.

 _'Were they always this insane?'_ "H-hey! Knock it off, you two!" He shouted, "This looks bad enough as it is, starting a fight over something stupid isn't going to help!" Kamijou tried to calm them but it was to no avail.

Fukiyose shut her eyes closed while crossing her arms. A tick mark was becoming quite visible on her ample forehead: Kamijou recognised it as the last sign before her anger erupted.

"If I remember correctly, it was you Aogami that made the comment about me being under Kamijou's control," The emphasis in the first word spoken stopped their brawl immediately; she now had a firm hold of their full attention, "I guess you were thinking the same, right Tsuchimikado?"

"W-w-well…" Both students stuttered nervously, as there was nothing they could do now to stop what was coming to them.

Kamijou suppressed a sigh and sat back to observe the punishment of his two friends. He was just glad to be a spectator for once.

**PART 2**

It was 4:30 P.M. and the bell's final ring announced the end of classes; students were already leaving with the exception of a certain spiky-haired boy and his blonde friend.

"Geez… this time it hurt like hell-nya. Why was she more angry than usual?" The boy, sporting a new pair of sunglasses, commented as he stood up from his desk.

Kamijou, who was still sitting on his desk, only glanced at him before resuming his study of the ceiling.

"More angry than usual? Hmm… I have no idea," Again, Kamijou found himself lying. He was fairly certain; he knew why her punishment seemed more aggressive than usual.

The unfortunate boy had fully expected Fukiyose to get angry when he confronted her but that never happened. On the contrary, she had supported his goal and wishes, which honestly baffled him. He wondered if, in the end, she had been angry, but didn't show it for some unknown reason. And if the remaining members of the Delta Force had been the unfortunate catalyst for her rage, who was to blame a certain innocent Kamijou?

"You didn't do something to her, did you-nya?" Tsuchimikado asked, his voice carrying a suspicious tone.

"No!" Kamijou answered immediately, "Really Tsuchimikado, it's not like we can do anything to her even if we wanted to."

A sly smile appeared on the blonde's face. Kamijou knew that expression: it always meant something ridiculous was about to come out of his mouth, and he was pretty damn sure this one was going to make Kamijou want to punch him.

"But if you could, you would do something to her, nya?"

As expected, the boy's thought guessed right.

"I'm not going to answer that!" Kamijou exclaimed and rose from his seat, grabbing his school bag to storm out the class without looking back. Tsuchimikado's voice followed him through the now empty class as the handsome spiky-haired boy left.

"So you really want her! Your hunger for women is insatiable, Kami-yan! Not even the scary Iron Wall girl is safe from you-nya!"

"Shut the hell up!" Kamijou shouted back, "Stop saying such nonsense and focus on the exams, idiot!"

"Whatever you say, Kami-yan. Just don't forget to…" Tsuchimikado's voice faded as Kamijou continued to walk away.

He stopped suddenly, _'Just don't forget to what?'_ His curiosity began to irk him, yet he decided to shrug it off. Tsuchimikado was probably going to say something stupid again, so why bother?

Kamijou reached the stairs before stopping again. This time, the cause was the girl apparently coming from the floor above. She wore the school uniform but her skirt was long, with short black hair just tickling her shoulders.

The spiky-haired boy blinked twice when the female student smiled at him, and after his initial surprise he recognised her immediately. She was **Kumokawa Seria** , one of the most notable students in his school. She was not only a remarkable genius, but also a beauty with a variety of exceptional skills.

Kumokawa didn't move from where she stood, nor reacted in any other way. She only remained silent, never shifting her piercing eyes from the unfortunate boy. He could tell she was looking for something, analysing and intimidating the boy before her.

"Kamijou Touma… How are you doing?" The girl spoke casually, which seemed somehow terribly odd. This impression was despite his unfamiliarity with her: they had only spoken a handful of times. He felt very uncomfortable with her being so casual to him.

"Good, I guess…" Kamijou answered, scratching the back of his head.

"Is that so?" The girl with short hair said with a voice that oozed polite inquisitiveness.

"Y-Yeah…?" The unlucky student averted his eyes to the side. Her sharp eyes were no less frightening than her overwhelming presence.

A long moment passed as no one spoke a word.

"…Fine," Kumokawa's eyes narrowed. She then walked down the stairs and left without saying anything more.

A chill flowed through Kamijou's skin as he remained locked in place. Fukiyose may freak him out quite a bit, but this girl was on a whole new level.

_'Damn… What just happened…?'_

Dreading continuing down the stairs, the boy instead turned back to the corridor to enter a nearby bathroom.

Kamijou went directly to the sink and let loose the torrent. He stared at the falling water for a few seconds before using both hands to splash some on his face.

"Ah… This is what I needed," Kamijou said to no one in particular and took more water to his face.

"Umm…"

Kamijou's eyes widened when a sound came from his side and turned his face towards its source. Kamijou's face became completely red.

Kamijou wondered _'Why?'_ Why was a devastatingly-close-to-naked girl standing before his eyes? The girl had long brown hair and her eyes were yellow, but despite his best efforts they weren't the focus of his deepest attention.

He caught her midway through undressing, and her unbuttoned orange shirt showed a modest white bra hiding an impressive bosom. A black and brown-colored tie was still on her neck; even if it wasn't the right time, Kamijou couldn't help but to wonder if it was the tie that was too small or her breasts that were too big. The white sweater still on her arms accentuated her light-brown skirt half-way down from her waist. They perfectly framed her flower-patterned panties and long black stockings.

He gaped at her in horror, but her expression held only mild confusion. Almost a full minute passed as both of them continued to stare at each other wordlessly. Kamijou didn't know what to do, given her lack of reaction.

Normally, when he ended up in this kind of situation, the girl in question would scream in fury and utter embarrassment, leaving him no choice than to run away. However, this girl didn't even show any sign of wanting to do so.

"I-I… W-wh…" The awkwardness made it difficult for Kamijou to find his tongue.

"What are you doing here? This is the girl's bathroom, you know?" Suddenly, the brown-haired girl spoke. Kamijou was shocked.

_'Why am I in the girl's bath? And why is she taking this so freaking casually!?'_

Kamijou didn't respond, making the girl frown. She tilted her head to the side and continued to stare. More awkward moments passed, the boy's embarrassment reached its limit and he could only do what he always did.

"This is a misunderstanding!" Kamijou screamed as he spun around, running out of the bath. He decided to not stop his legs until he was well out of the school.

**PART 3**

Kamijou found himself exhausted after his abrupt sprint, resting one hand against the wall at his side. The unfortunate boy was only two blocks away from the school, but he was already panting heavily.

Normally the distance between that bathroom and here wouldn't have been so tiring, but the circumstances had demanded his top speed. He noticed some of the passing students glancing at him but he paid them no mind. He could care less about almost everything right now.

"Shit! I left my stuff there!" Kamijou said with an exasperated tone and slapped his forehead, "Why does this have to happen to me!?"

His school bag likely remained on the bathroom floor where he left it, which meant he would need to return to retrieve it.

Kamijou's mind still held the image of that girl's underwear and he guessed it would not disappear any time soon. What if that girl was still in there? What if he met that girl on his way back? What if the next time he met her, she would become violent like most usually did? He had enough for today with that girl called Kongou, and another crazy chick was out of the question. Though he is the one at fault, her anger was justified.

"I didn't even apologise… Geez…"

He remained indecisive, lost in thought. After minutes of possible bad scenarios occurring in his mind, the only thing that seemed plausible to him was to wait until school empties.

_'Just… who was that girl?'_

Kamijou didn't know her at all; he didn't see her school uniform anywhere. Was that girl even from his school? It was hard to tell, and he couldn't find a plausible reason for her to change her clothes inside the girl's bath in his school? There are plenty of places for girls to do that, right?

As always, his rotten luck managed to get him into a really embarrassing situation, but at least he managed to not piss off another girl by being mistaken for a pervert. In the end, it wasn't that bad of a trade.

Kamijou grabbed his cell from the left pocket in his pants, then flipped it open.

"4:48, I guess I can wait fifteen minutes," He said to himself.

The boy looked around him and saw a coffee shop across the street from where he was standing.

"Well… it's not like eating something there will mess up my finances… I hope."

Kamijou waited for the traffic light to change and crossed over to it. The coffee shop was kind of tiny compared to the buildings around it, but its bright green and white colours made it quite eye catching. It looked like a good enough place to grab something to eat, so long as the prices were low enough.

Upon entering the building he was greeted by a cute girl dressed as a maid. Her outfit was a flawless combination of a dark-blue dress and a white pinafore, with a blue ribbon over her medium-sized bosom and a matching hair accessory. It all combined perfectly with her shoulder-length grey hair and turquoise eyes.

"Welcome back home, Goshujin-sama," The maid bowed before him and smiled brightly. "Please come in."

"…Ok…" The young student nodded.

Kamijou was surprised. This was his first time entering a Maid Café, and if not for Tsuchimikado's step sister, he could have also said that this was his first time seeing a maid as well.

The cute maid motioned for him to follow, and as he did so, Kamijou glanced around him and noticed that almost all tables were occupied by males. It was not surprising in the slightest. All the other maids in the café were pretty, too. It was obvious that these adorable girls were the reason on why this shop had this many clients.

_'But… would this mean that this place was expensive?'_

"Ano…" A voice interrupted his train of thought, belonging to the girl that just greeted him, "You can sit here, Goshujin-sama."

Kamijou blinked twice before examining what was in front of him. The girl elegantly directed him to his seat, her graceful hand extended towards a round white table with three matching chairs.

"Oh… Thanks," He smiled at her as he took a seat by the table.

"I will bring you today's menu," The maid said to him as she bowed again. "Please, excuse me."

"Ok… Thanks, again."

The maid nodded and left quickly.

 _'Huh… she seems like a nice person…_ ' A sudden noise that came from Kamijou's right side caught his attention. Apparently, the girl attending him stumbled into a red-haired maid, her dishes falling to the ground.

"I'm sorry! I-I-I'm so sorry!" The poor girl bowed twice to her fellow worker. By the sound of her voice, she seemed about to cry.

The red-haired maid with matching eyes heaved a sigh and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Don't worry, it's fine… Don't cry…" The redhead spoke with a soft and kind voice, putting one hand under the chin of the maid with turquoise eyes. The distance between their faces was minimal.

It could have been just him, but it seemed that those two were surrounded by some kind of pink aura with flowers around them. Why one earth was he seeing that?

"SOOOO MOE!" Someone shouted from somewhere.

"But…" The red-haired girl's tone changed abruptly as well as her facial expression, and though still good looking she now looked like terror incarnate, "You're gonna have to pay for that from your salary."

It was scary to see how that girl's demeanor changed in less than a second. _'Geez… How many crazy chicks exist in this damn city?'_

The poor girl just nodded, her gaze directed at ground as she stood there, immobile.

Kamijou couldn't keep seeing her like that, so he stood and walked towards the depressed-looking girl. He knelt down beside her and began to pick up the broken pieces of the dishes, also gathering the wasted food.

The grey-haired maid also knelt before him in that instant.

"N-no! You don't need to do that! I'll take care of it!" The girl shouted at him as she clumsily tried to stop him, grabbing his arms.

"It's no problem, let me help you," The boy said to her with a reassuring smile.

"But...!"

Kamijou stared directly at her pretty eyes with an earnest expression. For some reason, the only sound that reached his ears in that moment was the one coming from the girl's breathing. He didn't dare to look around him, but he could swear that all the people in café were staring at the both of them. Not that it mattered.

Suddenly, the clumsy maid lowered her head as her cheeks became red for some reason; her eyes were hidden under her bangs.

"O-o-okay…" She finally responded.

Both the maid and Kamijou continued to pick up broken dishes when another maid kneeled at their side. Kamijou was taken aback when he looked at her. This girl had some kind of dark aura around her that, combined with her short black hair, red eyes, and ghostlike face, created a terrifying visage.

"Here," The scary girl offered to him a broom and dustpan which he accepted immediately. His instincts told him that if he refused anything from her, it would probably be the last thing he would ever do. That's what her expression implied, at any rate.

Kamijou quickly finished picking up the remaining pieces as well as the food and gave both cleaning tools back to the scary-looking maid, who only nodded and disappeared between the other maids surrounding them.

"Oh! You are such a gentleman!" A blond maid spoke to him, her face getting uncomfortably close to his own.

A nervous chuckle escaped from Kamijou's lips as he stepped back. All the maids stared at him intently, which was certainly awkward. 

"I really didn't do anything, haha…"

In that moment Kamijou felt a vibration coming from his left pocket.

"E-excuse me…" Kamijou said to them as he took out his cell phone, opening it as he walked to the entrance, which took him a bit due to the crowd of maids compromising his quick getaway.

The screen showed the message 'Incoming call from Yomikawa-chan' as his cell's tune began to play. _'Yomikawa-chan...?'_

"But thank goodness…" Kamijou whispered to himself, sighing in relief as he finally left the group behind.

At some point, Kamijou had gotten the impression those girls had something nefarious planned for him. Why else would they surround him like that? He just helped one of them by picking up some stuff, that's all. They just needed to thank him, not gang up on him.

Finally free from the Maid Café, Kamijou answered the call.

Kamijou took the phone to his ear, "Hello?"

"Kamijou?" A female voice came from the tiny object.

"Yeah?"

Strangely enough, no sound came from her for several seconds.

"Kamijou," She finally spoke, "It's me, Yomikawa."

"I know. I have your number in my phone list, remember?" Kamijou answered playfully, as he rested his back on the left wall near the entrance of the café.

A light chuckle was heard from his cell and he smiled.

"You're right. Anyway, Kamijou… Can we meet up like I told you earlier?" Yomikawa asked, a cheerful tone back in her voice.

"Well…" Kamijou put one hand behind his head and continued, "…I guess we can. Where should we meet?"

"Where? Hmm… Do you know the Furiai Plaza by any chance?"

Kamijou directed his gaze to the sky as he sorted his thoughts. Some seconds passed before he finally remembered.

"Isn't there the 7th Street in front of the Furiai Plaza?" Kamijou asked to confirm his thoughts.

"Yes, so you know it," Her tone became even more cheerful, "Meet me there at 5:30, ok?"

Kamijou took off the cell from his ear and looked at the hour. It was 4:59… No… he would not make it in time… While not being that way, he still had to retrieve his book bag from the school. He would need more time.

"Sensei, I don't think I can…" Kamijou's voice faded when someone walked up to him, approaching so closely that he couldn't hide the red fluster from showing plainly on his cheeks.

Kamijou unconsciously let the phone fall to the side as he reorganised his thoughts, because the very same girl he saw almost nude at that bathroom was somehow before him. And all of a sudden, she was very close to him.

"Eh…" Kamijou had no idea of what was happening until the girl, now wearing just a long yellow dress, held up her arm to dangle his lost school bag.

"Why did you leave like that? You forgot this, you dummy!" The brown-haired girl smiled sweetly, getting a bit more closer to him.

Kamijou thought for a second that she was going to hit him with it, but she apparently had no intentions of using it as a blunt weapon. While that was a big relief, it didn't relieve him of his anxiety.

 _'Hey! You're way too close! You had to get this close to tell me that you brought my bag!?'_ That's what Kamijou would have wanted to say, but he couldn't find his voice.

"Kamijou? Kamijou! Are you still there? Kamijou!" The spiky-haired boy directed his eyes to the source of the voice, and his eyes widened.

' _Yomikawa-sensei was still on the phone!'_

"I-I-ehh… Just let me finish my call!" Kamijou shouted, pushing her back a bit from the shoulders. Kamijou turned around and took the tiny device to his ear again.

"Kamijo-"

"Yomikawa-sensei! I will see you there at 6:00 P.M.!" The boy interrupted her. Right now he had no time to explain why, so he decided what he would do next.

"6:00? But I told-"

Kamijou pushed the red button on his cell phone, ending the call, and hurriedly shutting it down. He knew that hanging up would probably make her furious, but he had no choice. With his sensei off his back for the time being, he could return his attention to his new problem.

The unknown girl crossed her arms, a pout spreading where there had been earnest warmth before. Kamijou hoped she wouldn't react violently. He'd been in situations like this before, and more often than not, he ended up getting in trouble especially when espers were involved.

"You're finished?" Her voice reached Kamijou's ears in the form of a question, yet he decided to wait in silence and see what insanity would come next, "Really, what's wrong with you?"

That was too much for him to ignore, "What's wrong with me!? You're really asking me that!? I just saw you almost naked and now you come to talk to me like we were close friends? I mean, aren't you pissed? What if I was some kind of pervert? I could have attacked you, you know?" His exasperated tone took force, "Why didn't you react like a normal girl? You should have screamed and punched me or something!"

"Are you some kind of masochist!?" She shouted, seemingly surprised and suddenly self-conscious as she clutched at her bosom.

Kamijou facepalmed. He couldn't understand this girl. He decided it would for the best to get away from her as fast as he could. Plus he still had to reach that plaza Yomikawa mentioned, though its name was already rapidly fading.

"Listen," Kamijou's expression became soft. "I'm sorry for seeing you naked and I appreciate that you brought my school bag, but let's just end this here before it escalates into more uncomfortable and awkward situations for the both of us."

Kamijou extended his hand to the school bag he lost. Unexpectedly, the brown-haired girl stepped back and hid it behind her.

"End this here? I'm sorry but you lost me. What do you mean by this 'end this here?' The girl's tone became dry, her eyes tired but still minutely focused on him, "End… What? Care to illuminate me?"

"You see? This is what I'm referring to," Kamijou yawned, both of his hands already resting inside his pants' pockets, "These meaningless conversations..." The boy sighed, "Please just give my bag so we can move on with our lives."

Her eyes narrowed, silence reigning for few seconds before she gave another step back, annoyance clear on her face.

"I don't feel like giving it to you anymore," She growled.

"What?" Kamijou blinked twice.

"You're a big jerk! I don't like jerks! Much less doing them favours!" The brown-haired girl shouted, attracting the looks of everyone near the café.

Kamijou could have sworn that even the people inside the maid shop were observing them. _'What kind of freaking day was this!?'_ He had been through many weird things in his lifetime, but today seemed determined to set a record.

The boy was at loss for words, scrambling for a solution. If that annoying chick wouldn't give him his school bag for him being a 'jerk', then he just had to not be one now.

"You're right, I'm a jerk," He inclined his body as he rested one knee on the ground, putting his arm across his chest and bowing his head slightly. "I'm deeply sorry for my crappy attitude towards you," Not even a single word came from her, but he was willing to be patient for her next reaction.

Some people say that when you expect something to happen, it never occurs in the way you planned. They were painfully proven right.

Before Kamijou could even blink, his school bag impacted his face, sending him backwards into the wall behind him. Kamijou couldn't tell which hurt more, his face or the back of his head.

"Don't do that! You're embarrassing me!" That was the reaction a normal girl would have had in that bathroom.

"Really!?" He snapped, rubbing his aching face, "Is that just a really late reaction, or are you only embarrassed now?"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" The girl's face was completely red, and he couldn't understand how apologizing was worse for her than accidental exposure.

"There's something really wrong with you!" Kamijou shouted as he stood still, "But I still appreciate that you brought me my stuff, thanks!"

"Can't you shut up!?" The girl turned around and ran down the street, leaving him behind.

Kamijou's couldn't tear his eyes from her until she turned right at the nearest intersection. He was completely confused; he just couldn't tell what that girl had been thinking.

It was then that he noticed the stares directed at his back, causing him to turn around. As he suspected, everyone looked at him from the café's windows. All the maids had weird smiles for unknown reasons.

"...I should just go," He muttered, picking up his school bag and turning away.

Before the spiky-haired boy could take a step, a voice called his name, and he looked over his left shoulder.

"Kamijou-san!" The grey-haired maid with turquoise eyes called his name, "Wait, please!"

 _'What now?'_ Kamijou turned to her, his face revealing his irritation, "What is it?"

"I… I want to thank you for helping me," The maid said shyly as she bowed to him.

With a hand on his hip, he sighs, not wanting to antagonize her because of his previous unpleasant experience, "I already told you it was no problem, but I'm curious. How do you know my name?"

The girl made a cute sound, her round eyes blinking.

"I heard someone calling you that from your cell phone so I suspected…" She replied, fidgeting in a nervous manner.

'Oh, right.' He recalled Yomikawa screaming his name when that crazy chick appeared and he didn't answer her, but did she really scream so loud that the maids could hear it? 

"I see..." Kamijou murmured.

"Aren't you going to eat?" The maid asked with concern, "You never had the chance to order anything."

Raising an eyebrow, Kamijou reflected for a moment before smiling, appreciating her thoughtfulness.

Could it be that this cute maid was honestly nice? She was worried about him eating, after all. Although... maybe she was trying to get more clients... Whatever the case, Kamijou chose to believe the former.

"Thanks for asking, but it's a little late, and there's something else I have to do," He replied casually, "Anyway, if you don't mind telling, how much those dishes are gonna cost you?"

"Huh?" His question came from left field: her face hinted at it, but her silence made it clear.

"Counting the two omelet rices and the broken plates, it's 2800 yen," A voice he heard before spoke, it came from the red-haired maid from before, who now stood at the clumsy girl's side.

Kamijou was struck speechless. _'Did I hear wrong? 2800 freaking yen? Was that the freaking cost of the plates alone? Or the food?'_

"W-wait! What is the cost of an omelette rice?"

"It's 500 yen a plate, and those two dishes were a special order our café offers, so their cost was 900 yen… each one."

That meant the price of the broken dishes was 1000 yen. That plus 1800 yen from the meals themselves... Kamijou could only wonder if the food was worth the cost.

"She's gonna have to pay for that? All of it?" Kamijou asked, his voice full of concern.

"Yes, all of it," The redhead put her left arm under her chest, which allowed the other to support her face, "We can't allow ourselves to commit any mistakes. If we get paid for doing our job, then making ourselves responsible for committing such mistakes is only logical."

At closer inspection, Kamijou could tell that this girl was _not_ to be taken lightly. Her cold voice and sharp eyes were a good indication of it. But that didn't mean he was going to leave things like this.

"Then… I'll pay for it." Kamijou's serious voice surprised both of them.

"What?" The maid with grey hair seemed like she was about to cry again.

The redhead however, narrowed her eyes. She seemed angry, but that changed after a second when a sly smile covered her face. Very anticlimactic to his eyes, but somehow all the more frightening.

"You want to pay for that? Why?" She stepped forward, amused, "You want to impress us…? I mean, her?"

He decided to ignore her obvious slip-up, "No, I just want to do it. I don't need a reason," He replied honestly; his facial expression showed he was serious about it.

"Huh…" Her smile widened.

"Y-you don't have to do that! You already helped me enough!" The shorter and clumsy maid shouted, calling Kamijou's attention.

"Enough? If I could help you more, I'd do it," Kamijou took out his wallet and grabbed a 2000 yen bill together with four coins, one of 500 yen and the other three of 100 yen. "Here, take it and don't discount anything from her salary."

"B-but we can't! We-"

The red-haired maid raised a hand, stopping short whatever the turquoise-eyed girl was about to say. She then turned towards Kamijou.

"Is that an order?" The redhead asked stoically.

Kamijou smirked.

"Yes."

It was an expression the red-haired maid with amber eyes returned.

"While our policy doesn't allow us to accept money in this kind of manner, to always follow whatever our Goshujin-samas order is our obligation."

_'This chick is really dedicated to her job...'_

Kamijou handed the money to the redhead without saying a word.

"That settles that then," The intimidating maid turned her face to the clumsy one. "You better be more careful next time, OK?"

"Yes! This won't happen again..." She pouted.

Feeling satisfied, Kamijou turned around and began to walk away.

"M-m-my name is Suzuki Hana! I'll wait for Kamijou-sama to return and I will attend him to the best of my ability!" The grey-haired maid shouted suddenly, making Kamijou stop on his tracks.

"I guess I now have a good reason to return," Kamijou spoke without turning around and moved onward with a smile on his face.

 **Suzuki Hana** was indeed a nice girl, so Kamijou hoped she wouldn't get into more trouble.

As he finally reached the end of the block, he turned to his left and took three steps forward. At which point the unfortunate boy grabbed his head and scratched it like a mad man.

"What the hell did I just do!? Now I only have 400 yen left on me! Gah!" Kamijou didn't regret helping Suzuki, but he knew he was totally screwed. "What am I going to eat until the weekend!?"

He didn't even care about all the people looking at him with eyes of discomfort. This day had become one of the worst in his life. Kamijou stopped his shouting to gain some breath before screaming what he always screamed.

"Fukou daaaaa!"

A lot of people in Academy City wondered who in their right mind would shout like that.

**PART 4**

The poor soul named Kamijou Touma was sitting on one of the benches located inside the Furiai Plaza, still waiting for his sensei to appear.

It was 5:51 P.M. and the somber rays of sunlight covering the city were beginning to fade. Kamijou was tired, mentally that is. He felt like lazing around, wanting to only return to his dorm for a nap. Yomikawa-sensei's interrogation took priority however, given that she had witnessed to some extent his right hand's unique ability.

"Damnit…" He cursed under his breath, "If I hadn't entered that café, that girl probably wouldn't have broken anything and I still would have 3200 yen. Such rotten luck…"

In the end, Kamijou knew that his current circumstances were his fault in some twisted way. _'No… My accursed hand is the real culprit, but it's not like I can get rid of it without putting my life in danger.'_ He sighed, knowing full well he had to endure it like always.

"Geez… I can't even can afford buying one of those crepes right now," Kamijou groaned, slumping his shoulders.

A sigh escapes his lips, letting his head rest on the back of the bench. This day just needed to end despite how early it was still.

More minutes passed as the boy looked around aimlessly. There was still no sign of Kamijou's sensei anywhere, so he took out his phone. _'Darn! Only 5:58'?_ The boy knew he was being impatient, but his desire to get this over with was through the roof.

Kamijou looked at his side and noticed there was something red on a bush. He wondered if it was a flower, but upon closer inspection, he confirmed that it was just a doll.

"Did someone forget this?" Kamijou asked to no one in particular and examined the elephant shaped doll, questioning it's particular color.

_'Seriously? Red!?'_

Suddenly, before he could lay a hand on it, the doll started to vibrate and its form compressed into a small circular red ball. What came next was totally freaking unexpected.

The compressed red doll exploded, and Kamijou could only do what his instincts told him. Eyes shut, he raised his right hand. A high pitched sound was heard, which meant one thing.

Whatever just happened had 'esper' painted all over it.

Kamijou opened his eyes and was struck speechless by the sight before him. The explosion caused a small radius of destruction, though it wasn't enough to hurt anyone badly. _'What the heck is going on?_ ' In that moment, the fleeting memory of that fire esper came to his mind. _'Was this... intended…'?_

Even if he didn't want to believe it, there were those that only wanted to bring suffering to everyone, or like in films he'd seen, there were those who only wanted to watch the world burn.

Kamijou's eyes averted to the group of people staring at him with clear signs of fear. _'That can't be good… that can't be good at all.'_

"H-he's the one detonating stuff!" A black-haired student shouted, pointing an accusing finger towards Kamijou.

"Eh?"

"Don't let him escape!" Another student shouted from afar.

Kamijou looked all around as angry mob surrounded him. It was pretty obvious they blamed him for the unfortunate event. Funny is that anyone else would have been badly hurt, yet remaining unharmed sentenced him as the cause behind it. Kamijou felt this was just his bad luck getting in the way again.

"This is a huge misunderstanding! I didn't do that!" Kamijou tried to defend himself but it was to no avail. To calm and convince a mass of angry people was hard to accomplish, and much worse under these circumstances.

The shouts continued and Kamijou was annoyed, tired, and unhappy. He was at loss for what to do.

"All of you, calm down!" A female strong voice spoke, silencing the group of students in the plaza, "I will take care of this so please leave the area!"

When Kamijou followed the source of the voice, his eyes found a dark-blue-haired girl. She wore glasses and a white blouse under a dark blue vest. She also wore around her neck some kind of yellow handkerchief. A grey plaid skirt, white socks and school shoes completed her outfit.

While most students seemed reluctant to leave, they all did in the end. That green armband on her right sleeve was mos likely the cause. People that carried those armbands belonged to the disciplinary committee known as **Judgment**.

"Don't move!" The girl with glasses commanded, her voice was sharp, "I'm with Judgment," She made some kind of pose while tugging out the armband. Kamijou could see the a white shield and several stripes on it. 

Of course he was the suspect... This day had just become unusually bad, even for him.

It all came to point where he had to make a call.

Running away would make him a delinquent for avoiding to cooperate with the authorities, while letting her arrest him and subsequently endure all the annoying stuff that came with being taken as a suspect. Both options were bad, but Kamijou was tired, and moreover tired of running for today at least. Making up his mind, the unfortunate boy raised both hands in order to show he was surrendering, yet he still said what was on his mind.

"I know it will be useless to say anything to defend myself, everything shows that I'm the culprit," Kamijou closed his eyes, "Do what you have to do," The Judgment member took out a pair of handcuffs from a pocket in her skirt as she appraoched. "But let me say this before you do it," Kamijou opened his eyes, making her stop, "I would never do anything to harm someone… I mean it."

The girls with glasses frowned; critical eyes cautiously observing him. The brief silence was broken when she spoke.

"Tell me what happened then…" She crossed her arms, yet the handcuffs were still visible, most likely on purpose.

The spiky-haired level 0 didn't expect her to give him a chance to explain himself, but if she offered it, he would take it.

"I was sitting on that bench while I waited for someone. Then I noticed something red in that bush..." He massaged the back of his neck, "Well, there was one there before the explosion. Anyway, I got closer to take look at it, it was a red elephant doll," Kamijou paused, before continuing with his explanation. "When I tried to touch it, it suddenly vibrated and transformed itself into a tiny ball that exploded. I don't have the slightest idea why it did, but that's what happened."

The Judgment girl walked past him and knelt before the half-destroyed bench. She remained silent as she looked around the affected zone. Kamijou guessed she was trying to find out the cause of this phenomenon.

"If you were that close, how come you weren't hurt?" The girl asked, still kneeling as she picked up some remains of the red doll, "Hmm... From what I see, the explosion did some damage, but there is this part that was unaffected."

Kamijou frowned as he studied the damaged area, he recognizing Pacman's familiar form on the ground. The mouth was the place where he stood when he raised his hand to protect himself.

"Well… eh…"

"The other bushes should be burning right now," The girl adjusted her glasses and whispered something to herself, yet Kamijou still made up her words. "It's like the explosion was stopped and just disappeared…"

_'Shit!'_

The dark blue-haired girl stood straight, and pinned him down with a serious stare, no words coming out. Kamijou felt uncomfortable at the undivided attention. It felt like she was trying to see through him.

"What is it?"

"What's your esper ability?" She asked, ignoring his previous question.

Kamijou blinked twice at the sudden, unwanted inquiry. He pursed his lips in annoyance since explaining his ability, which even he didn't understand, had always been headache-inducing. He remained silent, searching for the most adequate response, yet the girl spoke again.

"While I always try to avoid using my esper ability, I thought it was necessary and so I used it, but it doesn't work on you…" The bespectacled girl narrowed her gaze, "Why is that?"

"You used it? What's your ability? If… You don't mind me asking," Kamijou said with hesitance.

The Judgment esper didn't respond. A couple of seconds passed and her silence continued as she decided: at least, that was what Kamijou thought.

"It's called 'Clairvoyance'." Unexpectedly, she answered. "It allows me to see through things like clothes, objects, people and the like."

"Like x-ray vision?" The girl nodded, "I see… So… You expected to find something on me that would prove I caused that explosion."

The girl nodded again. Her face was pretty serious; he had to be careful with what he said now. Getting out of this mess was his priority.

"Let's say that I can nullify the powers of other espers," He explained bluntly, "I negated that explosion before it spread in my direction."

The dark blue-haired girl blinked. She apparently didn't expect to hear that, and Kamijou could hardly blame her.

"A power that nullifies others…? I've never heard of such a thing before…" Her voice suddenly became cautious.

"I don't know much of it myself," He admitted without any care, "The only thing I understand is that it negates the supernatural, and if I managed to stop that explosion, it's because it was caused by an esper."

"So... Like you nullified that explosion, you did the same with my power just now?" She mused a bit, a hand under her chin, "How do you control that ability?" Another unwanted question was thrown at him.

"I can't really tell you why your power didn't work on me," He shrugged his shoulders, glancing at his right hand, "I'm sure I did nothing to purposefully negate it," Kamijou half-lied to her.

While it was true that he did nothing to stop it, he did assume that his right hand was the cause. It was particularly confusing that only his right hand held his strange ability. It would have made sense if she'd managed to see through the other parts of his body, but this result was yet another layer to the mystery of the Imagine Breaker.

The girl frowned, "You didn't answer my question. How do you trigger your ability?" Her severe tone made Kamijou gulp.

The boy remained silent. He wanted to avoid the 'only my right hand negates a power' part.

Usually, an esper's ability could be activated in different ways, like with one's hands, eyes, brain and even with just your skin. There were others that needed some kind of device to be able to trigger it, but those were uncommon cases. But with Kamijou and the Imagine Breaker, it was different and perhaps unique. Why does only his right hand hold that power? Why not his left hand as well? And worst of it all… why did a level 0 have such an ability?

Kamijou glanced at the bespectacled girl with glasses before averting his eyes. He could she was seemingly becoming irritated by his reluctance.

In that moment, a voice came from Kamijou's left side, attracting both his and the girl's attention to it.

"Oh? Kamijou and Konori together? I didn't see that one coming… but now that she's here, this should accelerate things a bit."

Yomikawa-sensei couldn't have shown up at a better time. Kamijou was saved from his predicament in the one good bit of luck he'd had today. The woman in question wore a grey striped tank top, black jeans, and athletic shoes that matched it.

"Yomikawa-san? What are you doing here?" The girl called Konori was clearly surprised, "And… Do you know him?"

The woman smiled and nodded. Suddenly that feeling of good luck faded, and Kamijou had a premonition that something ridiculously bad was going to happen.

"Yeah, I know him," Yomikawa grinned, turning to the boy, the expression on her face increasing his foreboding, "He's volunteering to join Judgment's ranks."

"WHAT!?" Both students shouted in unison.

Kamijou was shocked; he didn't remember volunteering to join Judgment at all.

_'Why did Yomikawa-sensei say that? What is that woman thinking?'_

"W-wa-wait just a second there, sensei!" He stammered in disbelief, "When did I say I wanted to join Judgment?"

"You already forgot? In that alley… Don't you remember?" The sly smile the woman sported clearly gave him an answer, _'Yomikawa-sensei's plan was this? To make me join Judgment? Why? Why on earth she would want that?'_

The unfortunate boy was at loss of words. He couldn't think of anything to respond to his evil sensei.

"He wants to join Judgment?" The girl's eyes were on him again, "You should have told me so from the beginning."

Kamijou wondered if this was some kind of twisted evil plan to make his life even more miserable. He knew well that joining the Disciplinary Committee would not only limit his free time, but also that he would be obligated to do tons of stuff he'd rather avoid.

"Hmm? The explosion I heard… Was that…?"

"Yes, another graviton incident. Fortunately, no one was hurt," Konori glanced at Kamijou. "I think we can thank him for that…"

Yomikawa turned to the speechless boy, a hand resting on her hip.

"So you did it again, I guess," The busty woman smirked, resting her other hand on Kamijou's left shoulder, "But still as reckless as before."

Kamijou sighed wearily. He didn't plan on it as he only stopped it by fluke. Although, he ruefully acknowledged that if someone could've been hurt by it, he'd have done the same anyway.

He knew well this was going to be a huge commitment he felt very unwilling to endure. Right now he just wanted a good long rest, so a quick escape was in order.

"Sensei, Konori-san… I have to leave. Good day to you two," Kamijou stepped back, slipping free of his sensei's grip. Both females blinked, confusion painted on their faces that he didn't give a damn about, "I'm way too tired and I need to hit the sack. Goodbye!"

Kamijou ran to the bench and grabbed his somehow-not-affected-by-the-explosion school bag. Without even looking at them, he ran as fast as his legs could take him. He heard Yomikawa calling but he ignored her and headed for his dorm at high speed. Once again, Kamijou found himself narrowly escaping a horrible fate.

Hopefully, the tranquillity he sought to find would finally come to him when he arrived at the place he called home.

**PART 5**

Kamijou was terribly exhausted and was sweating heavily. The long race he made from the Furiai Plaza had taken its toll. The carrier of the Imagine Breaker supported himself with the door that led to his home as he caught his breath. Not even the time he spent inside the elevator was enough for him to regain his wind. He had never felt this drained before.

Several minutes passed and Kamijou finally decided to enter his dorm.

Said dorm was as he left it, thankfully. A couple of times someone had broken in and moved all his stuff, but never actually stole anything. Oddly enough, the door was also never forced, so he suspected the culprit came in through the balcony somehow.

Kamijou tried to figure out what this occasional criminal wanted from his belongings but it was useless. He had no idea what someone would want from him. If it wasn't his pocket change, his manga or the TV, then what was it? He had nothing of particular value.

Ignoring the problem for now, Kamijou entered the kitchen and opened the fridge, taking a can of cold orange juice from it. He was glad to see it wasn't empty; his limited supplies would serve until his next allowance came in.

The thirsty boy opened the can and downed its contents. One refreshing beverage later, Kamijou entered the bath, really wanting to wash away the grime of the day.

But before removing any clothes, the boy looked at the mirror in the bath and sighed. He was a total mess, and his appearance reflected his mental state. He was worried, and he knew that the Judgment 'problem' wouldn't end there. He never imagined something like that happening to him… _'To join Judgment?'_ He wasn't insane, and of course, would never agree to that.

Kamijou shook his head; more worry wouldn't do any good, so he directed his tired eyes to the shower head. But even if he tried to shrug it off, the anxiety just wouldn't wash away.

**o-0-O-0-o**

Kamijou opened his eyes.

Some damn noise had awakened him and it wasn't stopping. He quickly realised that someone was knocking upon his door.

At first he lay in bed in his simply grey pajamas, hoping it would go away. The knocking sound was heard again together with the ring bell, making him twitch an eyebrow in exasperation.

"For heaven's sake! I can't catch a break!" The boy yelled to no one as he got out of the bed. His eyes fell on the only thing in the whole room, besides his TV, that could show him the time of the day; his trusty cell phone, lying on his coffee table.

Upon opening it, the screen showed 8:10 P.M. _'Why would someone come this late?'_

Again, the sound of someone knocking the door were heard, shaping a tick mark on the tired level 0's brow.

"I'm coming, damn it!" He shouted as he stumbled to the entrance, turning on the lights before doing so. The boy stopped before the door and yawned, the sound of his steps apparently silencing the continuous knocks, "Who is it?" Kamijou simply asked with a stern voice but no response came, "I said, who is it?"

"No need to get all grumpy," A female voice came through the door, "It's me, Yomikawa Aiho."

Kamijou raised an eyebrow. He could hardly believe his sensei's… determination? He hoped her visit wasn't about the Judgment thing, though there still was the matter about those delinquents.

"Sensei, I was sleeping. Couldn't just we talk tomorrow? It's kind of late, you know?" Kamijou replied, trying to sound tired.

"I'm sorry, Kamijou, but you left so suddenly we didn't manage to talk… Aren't you going to open the door?" Yomikawa seemed undeterred and unsympathetic.

 _'How many times am I going to sigh this day?'_ After doing so, he unwillingly opened the door. Yomikawa was still in the outfit he saw her wearing earlier, but now wore an additional dark green jacket.

"I'm not really up for this, sensei," He confessed with irritation, "I'm really tired."

"I know you are, considering what you've been through this day, but this is really important," Yomikawa replied, her face showing a soft expression.

"...Well... If you say it's important, then come on in."

The woman blinked before making a sly smile, which made Kamijou feel a bit nervous for some reason, "You don't have a problem with me coming in?" She asked coyly.

He averted his gaze aside, "...It's not like we're going to talk about anything really important, right?" Sarcasm dripped from his tone, yet changed Yomikawa's sly smile into a kind one.

"Right…"

Kamijou stepped to the side, allowing Yomikawa to enter his dorm. The woman looked around the place before giving him a glance.

"Just make yourself at home," The boy said as he walked to the kitchen. "Want something to drink?"

The woman entered and closed the door behind her while removing her shoes, leaving them at the entrance. Kamijou couldn't read what was on her mind at that moment. Her face betrayed no emotion.

"…Sensei?"

"Oh, yeah. But…" She blinked, returning to her usual demeanor, "I don't think you have beer so a cold juice will do."

"Is everything ok? It's like your mind is somewhere else," Kamijou was a bit concerned; Yomikawa had dark circles under her eyes.

The busty woman was seemingly startled by his question, but smiled after some seconds passed, "I'm sorry. I've been doing some investigations for a case this past few days, and I haven't slept well lately… But thanks for asking."

"The graviton incidents Konori-san mentioned?" He inquired, her reaction proving him right.

"Yes," The woman admitted, "We haven't made much progress on it…" She sighed wearily, "Anyway, Kamijou, why did you leave so suddenly?"

Kamijou took two cans of grape soda from the fridge and moved to the main room, sitting on the carpeted floor beside the short table in the middle. Yomikawa did the same as she removed her jacket, giving Kamijou the fabulous sight of her striking assets under that tight tank top.

He did his best to avoid looking at her body and concentrated his gaze on the table. Having her notice his stare would only make things weird: they were alone after all, and in his bedroom no less.

"I distinctly remembered I had some homework to do, so that's why I left... If I had gotten sleepy before doing it, that would have been a problem, don't you think?" Kamijou was prepared; ever since Yomikawa made her presence known, he had planned a good excuse for his earlier actions in the Plaza.

"I see... Though the whole point of us meeting there was ruined if you were planning to run away like that... Not that it matters now, I suppose," Yomikawa opened her can and took a sip of her soda.

The spiky-haired boy expected her to say something else, but Yomikawa chose to remain silent as she sipped her drink.

"So... What was this important thing we needed to discuss?" The boy asked. An uncomfortable silence in these circumstances would just suck. He needed to make things quick before his bad luck had a chance to screw things up again.

The woman glanced at him before taking another sip of her grape soda.

"I have some questions about your confrontation with the thugs."

Kamijou wasn't surprised in the slightest. He recalled what she told him in that dark alleyway and he still needed Yomikawa to be on his side. With her as a possible ally, things could work much easier for him. While he always tried to avoid telling anything about himself to anyone, there was no use in hiding any information right now, much less lying about it.

"I see... Go ahead then, ask me whatever you want."

Kamijou finally opened his soda can as the busty sensei nodded, taking a long sip of its contents. She apparently was willing to wait for him, because she spoke again in the instant he put the can on the table.

"Did you really stop the fire with just your bare hand?"

_'Straight to the point, I see.'_

* * *

"Yeah. For some reason, my right hand negates supernatural abilities when it makes contact with them," Kamijou answered truthfully, raising the mentioned part of his body. "Don't ask me why, I don't even know myself."

"You don't know?" Yomikawa questioned.

"Yeah. This ability, whatever it is, can't be detected or measured," He elaborated, "The Power Curriculum Program marked my esper potential as non-existent, but this ability has been with me ever since I was born, I think."

The woman looked unconvinced; Kamijou would need to be a little more persuasive if he wanted to make her his ally and maybe his confidant.

"So you're a Gemstone?" She asked.

Kamijou blinked in confusion, 'What did she just call me?'

"You don't know what a Gemstone is?" It appeared she read his face well; Kamijou only nodded. "Gemstones are espers that obtained their abilities without them going through the Power Curriculum Program. You must emit a larger amount of AIM then."

"You mean… the AIM all espers emit? Well… How can I say this…?" Kamijou tried to find the proper words to make the truth seem more believable, but was forced to give up. "It's just that I… I don't emit AIM, so I guess I can't be a Gemstone."

 **Gemstone** was indeed the closest term to describe what he, and what Imagine Breaker was, but in the end it appeared he wasn't one. He did not emit AIM at all for some reason. It could be possible that his right hand negated his own **AIM Field** , which would explain its absence, but that was just a hypothesis, nothing concrete could support it.

_'The AIM fields… I think I missed that class… good for me Internet exists…'_

**An Involuntary Movement** or **AIM** was the term used to refer to the phenomenon in which an esper involuntarily produced an invisible energy field around themselves. The aggregation of that energy creates an energy field called the AIM Dispersion Field. This could only be detected by machines, though.

"You don't emit AIM? How is that possible? You're an esper!" Yomikawa's voice increased in volume.

"I know it doesn't make any sense but that's how it is. I wish I could tell you something more about it but that's all I know," Kamijou spoke as seriously as he could.

Yomikawa didn't speak a word after that, looking shocked. _'Is it really that big of a deal?'_

"I'm some sort of weird case, I know, but I don't really mind it," Kamijou's face softened, his tone reassuring. "Although there's a possibility that my right hand just nullifies the AIM I produce, who could know? I certainly don't."

"Well, that would make a bit of sense, but that hand..." Yomikawa directed her eyes to his face. "Could you let me examine it?"

The young student made a dumb expression and nodded slowly, extending his hand towards the woman. Yomikawa first observed it, then grabbed it with both her hands. The direct contact was embarrassing, so he averted his gaze to the roof, avoiding at all costs to make eye contact with her while she touched it. The woman with dark blue hair continued to examine it for a few minutes longer.

"It just looks like a regular hand," Yomikawa finally said while letting go of it, "Why would a level 0 have this kind of ability? It's pretty unsettling."

"Tell me about it," Kamijou snorted.

Yomikawa stared at the table; she looked like as if she was gathering her thoughts for her next inquiry, "The gunshots… If I remember correctly, you said that you fired them? None of them had bullet wounds."

"I did make them, but that was after I managed to take hold of their pistol, which they used against me first," He replied after yawning.

He wondered why an amused smile spread across her face at that. He had expected her to say that his actions were reckless as she usually did.

"How come you weren't hurt?" Yomikawa asked with a curious tone, resting her elbows on the table, hands supporting her face, expression filling with interest.

"I happened to find a trash can lid lying on the ground, so I thought it would help me in some way, but I never expected I'd use it to protect myself from gunshots."

"I see… You were lucky I guess..." Kamijou snorted again at a certain word used to describe him, "So I suppose your plan was to intercept them in that narrow alley, so you could take them down one by one and they couldn't gang up on you."

Kamijou made an amused smile of his own, raising both eyebrows a bit. Yomikawa understood his plan to deal with them pretty quickly; she was a member of Anti-Skill after all.

"Pretty much, yeah." The boy confirmed, "Oh... I used the pistol to make noise so Anti-Skill could find us," She smiled, tilting her head as he continued. "The last shots were directed at the sky."

Yomikawa grabbed her drink and took a sip of it, and Kamijou did the same with his.

"I have one more question…" She looked at him intently, "Why did you decide to intervene at all?"

The boy was expecting that question. Even he had questioned his choice, but in the end he just wanted to stop those bastards from hurting more people. No matter how many times he ended up in dangerous situations, his goal would always be to aid anyone in need.

"While this may sound a bit of an incomplete answer to you, I'm still gonna say it," Kamijou took a moment to choose the words that would express his true feelings, "There was no real reason. I just did because I wanted to help," Kamijou closed his eyes, lowering his head a bit, "When stuff like this happens, it doesn't matter who helps in the end... Even though this time it was me, if everyone is safe and happy in the end, that's all that matters… right?"

The boy opened his eyes and looked straight at her. He didn't know what kind of expression he wore at that moment, but it made his sensei smile brightly.

"I guess you are going to keep doing this despite what I say…" She commented playfully with an eyebrow raised.

Kamijou Touma, the unfortunate teenager that held the mysterious power that could negate even the blessings of God, just nodded.

The woman put her hands in the floor behind her to support her body and lowered her eyes, a pretty smile still on her face. Kamijou never expected to see this kind of expression on her ever, but he was somewhat glad he was there to see it.

"I see… I've got to admit… You are one of a kind," A soft chuckle escaped her lips.

Kamijou scratched the back of his head, not sure of what she truly meant by that. As he stared at his silent sensei, he couldn't help the amused smile on his face as he thought how his meeting in that alley had lead him to know Yomikawa better. Despite the mature and serious personality she always exhibited back in school, Yomikawa has shown him today that she was a playful and kind woman. He was impressed by her depth.

Suddenly he realized he could trust her, that no matter what he told her, she would help him. Silly it may be, having only really interacted with her since this morning, but her eyes showed that she was someone he could rely on.

"That's why you are going to join Judgment," The busty woman spoke in a ridiculous relaxed manner.

"What?" Kamijou blinked several times, no words came from him for a minute, "T-that again?"

Yomikawa grinned.

"So that's the real reason, huh? You escaped from me because I told Konori that."

Kamijou was struck speechless again. This woman kept reading him like an open book. Kamijou found a new kind of fear in women that day.

"What are you talking about? I told you that I had some homework to-" The boy stopped himself. His sensei was intensely staring at him; that sly smile making him feel really annoyed. The boy sighed, finally admitting it was useless to keep up the charade, "Yeah…"

Yomikawa smirked, "Why are you so scared of joining Judgment? It's not like they're going to kill you any faster than you can manage to on your own," The woman chuckled.

He narrowed his eyes and averted his gaze to the TV. Kamijou didn't even know where to start his list of reasons to stay away from them. If he had wanted to join their ranks, he would have done so a long time ago.

"I just don't want to… And I have barely any free time to waste with them," Kamijou knew he was lying: he didn't even have a club to attend to after classes, but right now he didn't care, and she didn't know it.

"Well, there're a lot of benefits for students who join Judgment," Yomikawa commented with amusement, "You could skip some classes, stay in the streets past curfew… but I think you already do that."

"Teachers aren't supposed to say something like that to their students!" Kamijou shouted comically, but he wasn't rewarded for his efforts.

Yomikawa's expression suddenly shifted, becoming stern and serious.

"You think that I'm going to let you keep doing this without having people to support you?" Her tone was determined, sharp, "Not a chance."

"Sensei, you just can't make me join," Kamijou growled, bothered by her insistence.

"I can't..." She shrugged her shoulders with a half-hearted expression on her face, "But I still have some cards up my sleeve."

Kamijou gulped. He knew that whatever she was going to say, it wasn't going to be good.

"You can continue doing what you do after you become a member of Judgment or I'll call your parents to inform them about your 'hobbies' should I see you doing more reckless endevours," She warned, voice stern, "…And you will be monitored until you do join, I assure you."

The way she said it made pretty clear to him that she wasn't joking. Now he had to choose between the better of two bad options, however much of a choice that really was. If he wanted to keep protecting people, he really had no alternative than to accept her offer. He could never let his parents know about his habits in Academy City.

Kamijou put one hand under his chin as he thought carefully. He had to be sure of his answer, and completely so. The course of his entire life depended on this choice; he couldn't take this decision lightly.

"So… What's your call?" Yomikawa finally asked.

Kamijou stared at the woman in front of him, fully facing her. He had already made up his mind, but he needed to steel himself for the responsibility his future would hold after his next words.

"Fine… I'll join Judgment…"

 _'There, I've said it. Please don't let the sky fall on me.'_ His sensei only smiled at his obvious reluctance, hearing the answer she had hoped for.

"Such misfortune…" The boy murmured as he took the grape soda can to his lips.

"That settles it then," She flashed him a smile, "Tomorrow I'll help you do the paperwork for your recruitment to Judgment."

The woman stood up and looked around his dorm room. She then turned to the still sitting spiky-haired boy, who couldn't keep himself from sighing every few seconds.

"Where's the clock…? I wonder..." Yomikawa said out loud.

Kamijou raised an eyebrow, taking his cell from the left pocket of his pajama pants and flipping it open.

"I don't have a wall clock right now but my phone says it's 10:06," He was startled, "Wow... it's pretty late already."

By the surprised expression on her face, Kamijou guessed she wasn't expecting that as well. The woman picked up her jacket.

"Damn it! Oh! Sorry for that," Yomikawa apologized as she covered her mouth. "It's too late! I didn't expect that our conversation would take this long, I should've brought my car..."

"Well, if you want you can stay here while I will call a tax-"

Her eyes widened, her voice interrupting his.

"You're offering me to pass here the night?" She asked with a surprised tone.

"Wha-wha-what!?"

* * *

Neither of them said a word for a of minute.

"But now that I think about it, it's actually a good idea," The busty woman said to herself, pounding her fist onto her palm, "I mean… to head back to my place at this hour without my vehicle would be kind of dangerous, even for a member of Anti-Skill."

"But what I was trying to say was that you could stay here while I call-"

"It's decided then. Do you have an extra bed or are we going to share yours?" The bold woman asked shamelessly, interrupting him again. For some reason, Kamijou suspected she was doing it on purpose, but couldn't imagine why. Was staying at his place that convenient for her or was it something else?

"Wa-wait there, sensei! Are you serious? You… You're just joking… right?" Kamijou hoped she was, but the way she was making herself comfortable did nothing to ease his mind.

Yomikawa shook her head, an amused expression painted on her face, "What... Can't I sleep here? Your bed is big enough for the two of us. If you were at my house, I would let you stay there."

"That's not the point!" Kamijou shouted as he waved his arms dismissively, "A sensei sleeping with her student is just wrong! You should know that! It's like… common sense!"

Yomikawa blinked innocently before grinning, with one hand was on her chin and the other on her hip. She stared at him for some seconds before responding.

"It is wrong, but it's not like something is gonna happen between us, is it?" She looked at him stoically, lowering her head, "Don't forget I'm your teacher, so it is my responsibility to take care of you. Think of it as just two friends sleeping together if you are more comfortable with that."

"Sensei, stop messing around, let me just call a t-"

"No need to call me sensei when we're out of school. Just call me Yomikawa, or even Aiho, I don't really mind," She grinned.

Kamijou facepalmed as he suppressed a sigh. _'What the heck is her problem?' Man, she's being way too playful!'_ Was the woman in front of him right now the real Yomikawa, always driving her students to excel?

"You're just making things weirder, sensei," Kamijou commented with a weak voice.

"Why are you making a big deal of it?"

"Because it _is_ a big deal!" Kamijou shouted as he grabbed his head with both hands.

Yomikawa stretched herself as she turned around, and Kamijou avoided looking at her pretty well-formed body by staring at the wall in the opposite direction.

"So, where is the bathroom? I wanna take a quick bath."

That didn't help his situation. "Don't ignore me, sensei. You seriously think you can stay here?" He sighed in defeat, raising his arms up high, "Don't blame me if you get into trouble later, I'm washing my hands of this."

The grin on her didn't change in the slightest after his words, as if she didn't care at all.

"Don't worry, no one needs to know," Yomikawa winked as her sly smile returned. For some reason, it seemed far more intimidating than before, "This will be our little secret."

The poor boy expelled air as dramatically as he could. This day was indeed one of the worst days he ever had to endure, even his own home wasn't safe. Kamijou gave up. It appeared that no matter what he said, Yomikawa would stay here. The teenager raised a hand, his index finger pointing at the door in front of the kitchen.

"That door leads to the bathroom."

Yomikawa looked in its direction after nodding. Without saying anything else, she walked up to it and entered, leaving Kamijou alone.

_'What now? How are we going to sleep? I should have bought a futon... There is no way I'm going to sleep in the same bed as her. Geez… The floor will have to do...'_

Kamijou first planned to sleep in the bathtub, but now that Yomikawa was currently using it, it would be wet by bedtime. He quickly discarded it from his choices as he searched in his mind for a better solution to his absurd ordeal.

_'…What now…?'_

**PART 6**

Several minutes passed with the bathroom still being occupied. Tired of waiting, Kamijou rose to his feet and headed to his apartment's entrance, snatching up his keys. He donned his shoes and opened the door, walking outside after sighing again. He needed some air: some very cold air, to prepare for the night ahead.

Going for a walk this late wasn't a good idea though, so he decided to just wander the passageway outside his seventh floor residence.

* * *

Kamijou breathed deeply, but no sooner had he taken two steps to his dorm, did he notice a half-opened door.

_'...This door...'_

It belonged to the dorm of his neighbor and friend Tsuchimikado, but there was no reason for it to be open. A chill went down his spine as he got closer to it, each step resounding in the empty hall.

The cautious boy stopped before it. No light came from inside.

Kamijou gulped. _'What is this? Could it be a robber...? Or something worse...'_ He hoped it was neither.

The silence became unbearable as darkness surrounding him deepened. The few lights in the ceiling did little to break the oppressive atmosphere.

Kamijou spent a brief moment lost in indecision. He could call Yomikawa, but if Tsuchimikado or Maika (Tsuchimikado's step sister) were hurt, he couldn't afford to waste a single moment. With their lives possibly in danger, his next course of action was pretty clear.

The Imagine-Breaker boy readied himself for the worst and raised a hand to push the door. Suddenly, before his hand could even touch it, the door opened by itself.

Kamijou stepped back, surprised into inaction. A white face with red eyes peered out from the darkness that enveloped the Tsuchimikado residence.

He stood there, paralyzed. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe; time itself stopped. The white face became clearer in the light of the passageway.

_'Wait... I've seen that face before...'_

"You..." An emotionless voice came from strangely familiar girl, wearing her familiar costume…

Kamijou blinked in surprise as it finally came to him. It was the girl from the Maid Café. She was the one that gave him the cleaning tools and scared the crap out of him. The girl's piercing stare gave him a strong urge to run, and not look back.

"Why are you here, Goshujin-sama?" Her dry voice echoed, each word dropping in the cool night like lead down a deep well.

An unexpected light turned on deeper inside his friends room. It was lit by yet another girl dressed as a maid, with short dark-blue hair and matching eyes.

"Kamijou Touma?" The newcomer girl addressed him, voice cheerful and relaxed. Her tranquility spread to the boy, because he knew at least this maid fairly well.

It was Tsuchimikado's step-sister, **Tsuchimikado Maika** , a maid-in-training that had illuminated the situation.

"Hey, eh… What's going on…?" He asked, his voice was weak due to the icy stare being directed at him, courtesy of the black-haired girl.

"I was just going to ask you the same. Is something wrong?" Maika asked, tilting her head innocently to the side.

Kamijou shook his head, finally letting his body relax completely despite the dark presence at his side. He smiled at her.

"No, it's okay. I…" He hesitated, "I just thought something happened because I saw your door opened, but I guess everything's fine."

Maika seemed startled for a second before she glanced at the scary girl.

"Oh? I haven't introduced you two yet. This is Kurosawa Kimiko, a friend from my class," The scary girl bowed to him slowly. "This is Kam-"

"Kamijou Touma…" The crimson-eyed girl interrupted Maika. The way she said his name made the unfortunate teenager gulp.

"Oh... yeah. You heard me calling him that... Teehee! That was pretty dumb of me," Maika giggled, the expression on her face rather cute.

Kamijou looked behind both girls; there was no sign Tsuchimikado himself at home. _'What were those two doing inside without any light turned on?'_ Maybe it was something related to the scary maid called **Kurosawa Kimiko**.

"Is your brother here?" Kamijou asked, eyes falling back onto the little maid.

"Nope, he called to tell that he'd be staying with a friend for a study session."

Kamijou frowned. Tsuchimikado was staying with a friend? Was that friend Aogami? Since when did those two decide to have study sessions? Kamijou couldn't avoid getting suspicious, but chose to forget about it. It wouldn't do ay good for him or Maika to get worried for no reason.

"I guess I'll head back to my place then. Be careful with leaving the doors open, Maika. You don't want strangers entering your room while you sleep," Kamijou advised her. He made a note that from this day onward, he would make sure she did just that.

"There's no need to worry. I'll protect her and kill anyone who dares to try anything…" Kurosawa said darkly, seemingly unaware of how strange that boast sounded.

_'And yet... Why do I have the feeling that she's not joking…?'_

"Ok, ok. I guess I was kind of careless... I promise it's not gonna happen again," Maika pouted. "Please, don't tell Onii-chan."

"Won't say a word, so long as you keep that promise," Kamijou said between chuckles, amused by the girl's un-maidlike behaviour despite his disquiet.

Maika smiled brightly and grabbed Kurosawa by the hand, pulling her inside. While she did that, the black-haired maid kept her gaze locked on Kamijou. He was grateful when the door closed.

Was it his imagination, or did the door close unusually slowly and sounded exceptionally creaky?

He scratched the back of his head, reorganizing his thoughts. In the course of the day he had met all sorts of people. Some crazy, some bad, and all highly annoying. He wondered if this city attracted egocentric people. Perhaps they just made good espers.

The boy walked back to his dorm, having gotten enough 'cold air' from the chilling personality of Maika's classmate. The only thing he wanted was some good sleep, and with all that happened during this day, he felt he deserved it.

Kamijou opened the door that he unlocked. He then walked to the bathroom's door and knocked twice.

"Sensei, are you still in there?" The boy asked, wondering how long it had been since he left.

No answer came, so he opened the door. As expected it was empty, so the boy turned around. _'Where is she...?'_ Unexpectedly she came into view, and it made Kamijou's right hand automatically slap his own forehead, serving the dual purpose of showing his exasperation and blocking his eyes.

Yomikawa was only wearing a towel that barely covered her. Kamijou thought she would be kind of muscular, but from what he could see, his sensei had what he considered the 'perfect body'. It might have been an alluring sight, but he managed to control himself and turned around completely while maintaining his position.

While the girl he saw earlier at school had an impressive figure, it didn't hold a candle to Yomikawa's adult body. There was an almost naked, sexy woman inside his very own dorm room and they were alone. Even in his wildest dreams, this would be absurd.

"Sensei! Put on something already! What the hell!?" He shouted while continuing to cover his eyes with his right hand.

"I already told you, just call me Yomikawa," The woman said to him, and the sound of her approaching footsteps made Kamijou nervous.

"Just put on something!" The boy shouted, his right hand still covering his sight as he tried to inch away.

"What? You can't handle seeing such a beautiful woman with just a towel on her? That's pretty cute," He knew she was just teasing him again, but there wasn't much he could do about it… Aside from retorting while fleeing.

"No, I can't! Happy now, sensei?!"

Kamijou slammed open the bathroom door and rushed in. He swore he heard Yomikawa laughing as he did.

"You better not do 'something' inside after what you saw," The woman said aloud mockingly, and the boy felt like slamming his head against the wall.

"Like hell I would!' Kamijou understood her 'message', shouting back.

The level 0 esper leaned his back against the door, sliding down it until he reached the bottom. He remained there, sitting on the ground as he calmed down.

_'That woman is freaking crazy!'_

A couple of minutes passed until the boy heard the sounds of television that his sensei had turned on. Now that she was making herself at home, the idea of sleeping in a wet bathtub didn't sound too bad. He only needed some towels to dry it a bit…

"Kamijou! Hey Kamijou! I really hope you are not doing 'that' with your…"

"I'm not freaking doing anything!" Kamijou was irritated at how hard it was to calm down while she kept teasing him.

The woman remained silent for a couple of minutes as Kamijou crossed his arms, eyes shut, waiting for her next ridiculous words.

"Are you angry, Kamijou-kun? You know I was just joking, right?" Her tone indicated that her teasing was over. "Don't forget I'm still your teacher."

 _'You make it really hard to do so!'_ Kamijou let out an exasperated sigh and stood up, opening the door. To his relief, Yomikawa was now wearing clothes, although her chosen shirt actually belonged to him. Her long legs were bare, but his pajama reached her upper thigh, covering her underwear. _'At least, I really hope she's wearing some...'_

"While I should mention you shouldn't be moving my stuff around, much less wearing it, I won't complain about it," Kamijou's face was carefully neutral, "Let's make things easy for the both of us. I will sleep in the bath and you'll take the bed."

"There's no way I'm letting you sleep there," She argued, "You take the bed and I'll sleep on the floor, I just need some sheets," The woman commanded.

Kamijou shook his head, "Just take the bed, sensei. I'll be fine."

Yomikawa crossed her arms over her chest as she stared at him blankly, "I won't t accept you sleeping anywhere but in the bed," Her dry tone suggested that she wouldn't concede in the matter, but neither would he.

Kamijou's eyes tightened. His sensei will take the bed whether she liked it or not.

"You are the guest, so take the bed," Even he noticed that his voice was sharp.

Both student and teacher glared at each other, having reached an impasse.

"Then there's only one way we can solve this..." Yomikawa said with a serious tone. Kamijou prepared himself for her argument. Whatever she was going to suggest, he would be ready.

**o-0-O-0-o**

Kamijou hadn't been ready.

The nervous boy lay in bed, like Yomikawa wanted.

So did his sensei… Like he wanted. Or thought he had.

Much to Kamijou's dismay, a long discussion resulted in them sharing the bed. The boy knew for certain that having an attractive woman sleeping at his side was going to cause some difficulties. Namely, he wouldn't be sleeping at all.

It had been 40 minutes since they had lain down together on his somewhat spacious bed. Yomikawa's even breathing only furthered his anxiousness.

"Fukou da…" Kamijou whispered, turning to stare at a blessedly boring and not sexy white wall.

The unfortunate boy was glad that this nightmarish day was finally coming to an end, but knew it was going to be a really long night before it actually happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. 
> 
> Have the best of days, and stay safe out there.
> 
> \- Frank


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do have a clear direction of where I want to take this story, in fact, I already have in mind how it's gonna end, something that I think is the key to avoid a story deviating from want you first planned. I'll stick to the canon for some part, until I know that the right conditions had been settled to start the end of this story.

**The Illusionist bestows Might: The_LAST-Gate of_HEAVEN**

**PART 1**

_'Thank goodness real life is not a manga…'_

Kamijou stared at the same roof he was yesterday, thinking that it would have been very troublesome if real life was anything like it.

In a manga, he could have awakened to the sight of an almost nude female body sleeping at his side. A beautiful body belonging to his sensei, Yomikawa Aiho. At any point during the night, she might have hugged him, half-asleep. Of course, Kamijou would have had no choice but to bear it stoically.

But nothing like that ever happened, thankfully. It was weird considering his usual luck, or not so weird actually, his luck was confusing sometimes.

It has been 5 minutes since the boy had awoken from his slumber, when he had found himself alone. The woman that slept next to him last night had already left, confirmed by the little note on top of his short table.

The boy sat up in bed, and noticed a stain on the upper part of his shirt. He examined it, discovering it was just a wet spot, as if some drops of water fell upon it. He couldn't recall getting out of bed, and it wasn't that humid today. The only explanation that came to his mind was…

_'Yomikawa-sensei...'_

Maybe she drank a glass of water sitting on the bed, and she accidentally let some of it fall on his shirt.

Or it might have been something else.

"It would be kind of awkward if… But who cares!" Kamijou shouted as he slid out of the bed, sitting on the carpeted floor. He sighed wearily as he glanced again at the little piece of paper resting on the table's surface.

The unfortunate teenager tried to reorganize his thoughts. Yesterday was a day he would have preferred to forget, as impossible as that was; his bad luck had put him into a parade of annoying, embarrassing, dangerous, and flat-out ridiculous situations. Worst of all, he had accepted the brutal conditions of his sensei, who he now considered as an attractive but annoying witch.

_"Fine… I'll join Judgment…"_

Those words hurt his head every time they floated through his mind. They hurt even more than the procedures he had to endure during the damnable Power Curriculum Program, and all the pharmaceutics, neuroscience, and cerebral physiology that was part of it. Yet, he would rather undergo the power program again than joining that organization.

"This is way too much misfortune, dammit…" The boy murmured, finally reading to the bottom of the note Yomikawa left.

**Before going to classes, meet me at the Teacher's office. I made you a Bento, don't forget to take it with you.**

**-Yomikawa-chan**

_'...-chan?'_

Kamijou glanced at his kitchen. There was indeed a prepared Bento on top of the microwave. Yomikawa must have awakened really early for her to prepare it before leaving.

'What time is it?'

The boy looked around the room and finally found his cell at the left side of the TV. He stretched his arm to grab it, flicking it open.

"8:17…" Kamijou blinked twice. "…8:17!? It's freaking late!"

It was no wonder that he woke up this late. The fault lay squarely on the shoulders of a certain woman who decided to pass the night in his dorm.

Kamijou scrambled up and headed to the bath to take a shower, but almost slipped on the wet floor.

"Damn that woman…" He cursed as he tried to maintain his balance.

Now steady, Kamijou stepped slowly over the slippery ground, stripping in the process.

"A cold shower will have to do," The boy was still tired; he knew cold water would shake the weariness out from his body.

After it, Kamijou hurriedly stuffed his school bag with books and the bento Yomikawa made, putting on his clothes in a mad scurry.

Finally in his summer uniform, the level 0 esper darted from his dorm.

_'Darn it! At this rate, I won't make it in time!'_

The teenager had been running non-stop since exiting his Dormitory's elevator, and now Kamijou found himself jumping on the spot as the street lights changed, but the wait seemed endless.

"Gimme a walk signal already!" He shouted pointlessly, frustration growing as his patience shrunk.

Finally, red changed to the green of hope, and Kamijou pressed forward without delay.

As he tore his way through the packs of ambling students walking Academy City's streets, he couldn't help but wonder why he was the only one in a hurry. It was 8:26 A.M. and all schools in Academy City closed their gates in four minutes, so why didn't everyone else seem to care?

Kamijou slowed his pace and breathed deeply. It was useless; no matter how much he ran, he just wouldn't' make it... it was just too damn late. Deciding he wouldn't give into pressure; Kamijou decided to take it easy.

He eventually arrived to a park where a certain vending machine was located, and with his newfound lackadaisical attitude, he decided to get a drink. He had been running nonstop after all, so a refreshing beverage was in order.

The boy stopped before the machine and took out a 100 yen coin, jamming it inside. Kamijou pressed the button that labelled green melon soda, and soon, the sound of a can tumbling out was heard, which was music to his ears.

He leaned over to grasp his order, but upon touching the can, its heat burned his fingers.

"Ouch! It's hot!? Why's it hot!? I ordered a cold melon soda! …So why's it hot!?" Kamijou lent closer to the machine's opening: Apparently, his can wasn't the melon soda he ordered, but instead hot chocolate, "Is the machine broken or something? Geez… 100 yen wasted for nothing!"

Kamijou scratched his head in a bid to suppress his anger, dreading the fact that a hot drink during unbearable summer weather wouldn't do at all. He was unexpectedly thirsty however, and he cursed the fact that he completely forgot to get a drink from his fridge in his rush to make it to school.

"Here, take this…"

A voice drew his attention, and so he turned to face its source. To his surprise, a brown-haired guy was offering him a strawberry soda.

"…Eh… What?"

"Here, take it. You are thirsty, aren't you?" The man raised the hand that held the soda closer to his face.

Kamijou blinked in confusion, failing to recognize the newcomer. By his appearance, he seemed to be in his twenties, sporting mature black pants and shoes together with a white shirt.

"Er… Thanks…?" Kamijou reluctantly accepted the cool beverage.

He took the can to his lips upon opening it, but he refrained from drinking its contents as his eyes widened in realization. He hadn't noticed until now that something was wrong with this person. More exactly, it was his eyes that were the problem as they looked exactly like the ones of someone familiar to him. They were literally starry-eyed and he knew well what that meant.

Kamijou pushed the soda can back to the man, eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"I appreciate your concern, Shokuhou-san, but I don't want it," His tone cooled noticeably.

The man in question pouted in a disturbing way, at odds with his professional appearance, refusing to grab the soda.

"Oh… But you were just complaining about it so I…"

"Stop it!" Kamijou cut him off, "This poor person here must have some stuff to do, so leave him alone."

The man remained silent for a short moment before pouting again.

"Are you still mad…? I already told you I was sor—"

The man never finished his sentence as Kamijou touched his head with a certain right hand. A high-pitched sound was heard and the man's expression changed to one of clear confusion.

"Eh…? Where am I…?" The man looked frantically around him.

Kamijou sighed. That girl was at it again. Even when he told her to not do it, she just wouldn't learn. This poor man who now seemed lost was just being controlled by her, the **Queen of Tokiwadai**.

 **Shokuhou Misaki** was her name, also regarded as ' **Mental Out** ' due to her mind altering abilities. She was one of the seven level 5 espers in AC after all. The unfortunate boy didn't know the full extent of her power, but for what he could confirm with certainty was that she could read minds, control people to make her will, hell, even transplanting or eliminating memories was within her grasp.

He couldn't categorize her as a bad person, but her selfishness and big-headed personality made her a hassle to deal with most of the time.

Before Kamijou could take a stroll down memory lane, the man's obvious panic jogged him out of it.

"What is this place? I was at the train station just a moment ago! How the hell did I get here!?" The man screamed, and Kamijou rehearsed his lines one last time.

"Please, calm down," The boy raised a hand firmly, "I know you must be scared but try to listen. I'll explain what happened but stop shouting before you attract more attention to us."

The scared guy nodded, Kamijou doing just the same as he folded his arms. Before beginning, the unfortunate boy motioned the man to receive the soda, which he did hesitantly.

"This is yours," The just-freed-from-mental-control male blinked, "The one behind your lack of memory was an esper, who was controlling your mind."

"Controlling my mind?"

"Yeah," Kamijou confirmed, "Haven't you heard? There's an esper who likes playing jokes on random people in the street and you were today's victim. But now that you are free from it, I suggest you leave before that esper decides to try again."

The guy nodded nervously, taking the can and running to the street behind him. Not for the last time, Kamijou wondered what that girl was thinking.

"Shokuhou! I know you're nearby! If you wanted to give me that drink, you would have done so by yourself!" He bellowed, sure that the Queen was close, "Just show yourself!"

"[Ok… but you don't have to get mad…]" The feminine voice spoke in his mind, confirming his suspicion.

 _'Finally, that pout is back where it belongs!'_ However, he still was upset. The girl that had controlled that poor person stood shyly 2 meters away from him.

Shokuhou was, he had to admit, a spectacular sight. Her long golden hair, cute face and those one-of-a-kind golden starry-eyes weren't enough to draw the attention from her dangerously sexy body. The girl was wearing her Tokiwadai school uniform but she also wore a pair of white gloves and stockings, adorned with lace. She carried a shoulder bag that had a star on the middle, dangling from her left shoulder and a remote control in her left hand.

"Get out of my head," Kamijou commanded.

"[…Fine…]" The girl murmured in his mind one last time as she directed her control to him.

Kamijou touched his head after some seconds to make sure she really did leave his mind. Nothing occurred so he relaxed a bit while the blonde stood idle, watching silently.

"Really, when are you going to stop?" Kamijou commented as he walked up to her.

"I already told you I was sorry! I didn't mean to cause tha-"

Kamijou raised a hand to silence her.

"First… Stop using people to nag me every time you see me and second…" He hardened his features, looking at her with disapproval, "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

"…But…"

Kamijou gave her a cold glare.

"Shokuhou-san, there is nothing more to talk besides that so I'm leaving," Kamijou spoke coldly, something he himself disliked, but alas, there was no other way.

"Touma-chan… Don't be so mean to me…" The blonde girl said weakly, but he refused to let her vulnerable cover fool him.

Kamijou lowered his head, sporting a really serious expression.

"You know what you have to do," Her gaze darkened, the boy giving her his back, "Talk to me when you do."

With that, the boy began to walk away, a solemn expression painted on his face, but it changed rather quickly due to the step he tripped over. The unfortunate boy fell hard on his face.

"Touma-chan! Are you alright!?" A girl's voice came from his side as the boy rose to his feet.

"I'm fine, Misak-" Kamijou stopped his mouth when his eyes fell on a little brown-haired girl with a dark blue school uniform.

Kamijou's eyebrow twitched. Not only did he not know the girl, but her eyes had stars on them, which made an exasperated sigh come out.

"Shokuhou!" He shouted, turning to where he last saw the blond girl, yet she was nowhere to be seen.

The spiky-haired boy returned his attention to the little girl, who wore the same expression he saw on that guy just a while ago. Her eyes had returned to normal.

"W-what's happening!? When did I cross the street?" The girl asked herself.

Kamijou glanced at her and then directed his eyes to the sky. There was no use getting angry, she would have to understand that controlling people for her own desires was a bad thing to do. She just needed time.

He hoped.

Suddenly it dawned on him.

"Oh crap! I still have classes!"

The boy picked up his school bag from the floor and sprinted towards that dreaded destination...

A Certain High school.

**PART 2**

The unfortunate level 0 esper called Kamijou Touma was surprised, and pleasantly so. He didn't know why, but the school gates were still open though it was 8:56 A.M.

'Why's everyone arriving at school this late?' Kamijou wondered if maybe there was a change in the entry hour he didn't know about, but he didn't really care at the moment. The only thing that mattered now was that he could get to school without getting into trouble. That was definitely a good thing.

After entering the main building, Kamijou headed to the lockers to change his shoes. As the boy opened it, a weird feeling ran through his body; like a presence was near him, or someone was watching him. The boy scanned the area around him but didn't notice a single person.

"Is someone here?" Kamijou gazed towards the entrance door. He was sure he saw other students heading to the school but they weren't around anymore. "Where is everyone…?"

As expected, no response came. Complete silence surrounded the boy; the ominous feeling inside him became stronger, fueling Kamijou's paranoia.

_'Just what the heck is going on…?'_

Kamijou steadied his mind. Something was clearly wrong, his instincts screaming at him to not let his guard down. The engulfing silence was becoming unbearable, broken only by his own breathing.

Suddenly he felt extremely tired, to the point of wanting to just let his body fall to the ground. He managed to keep himself standing despite the sudden weakness. His vision became foggy and the sunlight coming through the windows and the entrance door started to fade from view. He could barely distinguish anything.

_'I... I need to get out of here...'_

Kamijou gazed at the barely visible entry door, and began moved forward as best as he could. Each step made the boy sweat and pant, his legs dragging as if burdened with a ball and chain. The sound of clanking behind made him think his impression was actually true, but there were no shackles attached to his ankles, _'Then why am I feeling...? Why this noise...?'_

Finally, the boy reached the door, and upon doing so, he felt something coming up behind him.

The boy ignored his fatigue and stepped to the side, twisting around sluggishly. Kamijou's eyes widened, but they relaxed after seeing the person in front of him.

"Just what the heck are you doing?" A familiar female voice echoed.

Kamijou relaxed as the sinister feeling he had felt some minutes ago dissipated.

"Fukiyose…"

The Iron Wall girl was frowning, probably from his dazed expression.

"Why do you always react like that when I come to say hi to you?" The busty girl said as she crossed her arms, a bothered expression on her face.

Kamijou didn't give any reply, still unsettled. Since Fukiyose appeared, everything had returned to normal. Students walked all around him now as others came through the main entrance. His energy returned and the heavy atmosphere was completely gone.

_'Then... what just happened a minute ago?'_

"Kamijou! Are you listening to me? Hey!"

The spiky-haired boy blinked as he finally gave his attention to the upset-looking girl.

"Oh…? Eh… Is something wrong?" The boy asked as he scratched his cheek, unsure of what she just said.

"I was going to ask that to you… You had this nervous face so I thought something was wrong."

"Wait… What were you doing before coming here?"

Fukiyose furrowed her eyebrows, sporting a confused expression. Kamijou waited for her response.

"...I was in the bathroom. Why…?"

Her reaction confirmed that she didn't experience anything disturbing, much to his confusion. If she didn't notice anything wrong, could it be that he imagined all that…?

"Why…? Well… I was just curious," Kamijou said as he turned around, walking to his locker. The sound of the steps behind told him that Fukiyose was following him.

"Just curious? Really, Kamijou? I don't know what to think of you at some times."

The boy chuckled.

"I'm sorry. This Kamijou-san is always making you worry and you still put up with me," The teenager turned to face the girl, "I really appreciate your concern."

Fukiyose blinked twice before she aderted her gaze aside. Kamijou could swear her cheeks were red, but there was simply no way. She was the Iron Wall Girl, so he must have imagined that.

_'Nah… I don't think she was embarrassed, I mean, that would be just totally weird. Fukiyose embarrassed, HAH! Although I would pay to see that…'_

"It's not like I'm always getting worried about you, Kamijou. That would only mean that I had you in my—" The girl stopped abruptly, her face became clearly red, and this time he did see it.

"…What?" The boy raised an eyebrow.

"…I… Eh… Um…" Fukiyose's face had the same color of a tomato… 

This was honestly the first time Kamijou saw her with that kind of expression, and it was shocking to witness at face value. He just couldn't help but become hesitant and somewhat anxious.

"Is… something… wrong?" The boy finally asked due to the girl being so unresponsive, giving her a bemused look.

Fukiyose just remained silent; she looked like she was lost in thought. Her eyes moved to the ground, and then to him, only to return to the ground. In that moment, a significant change overtook her face. Kamijou could have been wrong, but it was as if she realized something.

"I'll see you in the class, Kamijou…"

After those words, Fukiyose walked past him and left the boy alone and confused.

"…What just happened?" Kamijou asked himself.

The spiky-haired boy frowned; since yesterday, Fukiyose had started acting differently. First, she supported his reckless way of living, and now this? Did something happen to her? Fukiyose always had a determined and strong personality, but now she seemed to be acting totally out of character.

He sighed wearily, the changes in the world around him coming one after other. Things he never imagined seeing were beginning to happen. He wasn't sure he would be ready to face them head on.

Kamijou shook his head; getting worried about events that had yet to come was just plain useless. Better to face them with everything he had when the time came.

_'And let's just hope it never does...'_

The spiky-haired teen turned back to his locker, a place that could have started a life of joy and love, the paradise of youth in fact. Silly and dumb it may have been, but the teenager always hoped to find a love letter inside his locker. Despite being single and unfortunate, he knew very well that receiving a love letter was the dream of every hot-blooded teen.

However, no matter what happened, reality would always break all illusions, and hopes of such silly dreams. It always happened, no matter who you were or what you did. Kamijou couldn't describe this sensation very well, but despite all his misfortune, he could tell there was something important he had to do, even if he didn't know what it was or whether he would like it or not.

All he knew was that only with a powerful will, would he be able to succeed.

No letter was found inside Kamijou's locker, as he expected. Such was his reality after all. But in the end, Kamijou didn't really assign it much importance.

A minute passed as the boy changed his shoes. Suddenly, he remembered that he still had to see Yomikawa in the teacher's staff room. It was quite bothersome but he had no choice. Kamijou wanted to settle all things with the woman once and for all.

_'I just hope she doesn't come up with any more ridiculous stuff…'_

Kamijou scratched the sudden itch on the back of his head as he headed to the teacher's office.

**PART 3**

"Just look who is here! My favorite student, Touma-kun!"

Kamijou deadpanned as the cause of last night's headache greeted him as if they were intimate friends.

"Sensei… What is it now? And please, don't call me by my name," Kamijou spoke robotically, "Things between us are just weird enough; there is no need to make this more awkward.

"Oh? That was plain cold," Yomikawa commented, at first startled but quickly donning a sly smile, "C'mon… Don't act like that. We slept together last night so this is only normal. "

Kamijou's eyebrow twitched.

_'What on earth was this woman thinking!? Saying something like that out loud!'_

"Oi! No one needs to know about that! …Seriously!" Yomikawa just chuckled at his outburst, "You enjoy doing this, don't you?"

Yomikawa, who was sitting on her office chair, chuckled huskily. She leaned forward to rest her arms atop her desk, supporting her face with her hands.

"I do," The woman with dark-blue hair responded simply, making the boy feel pretty stupid.

_'Darn! Why does this woman have to be so freaking annoying!?'_

Kamijou sighed. He knew that getting mad would only encourage Yomikawa to keep her teasing, and it wasn't doing his heart any favours either.

"Whatever…" Kamijou crossed his arms after putting his school bag on his sensei's desk. "At least no one heard yo-"

Kamijou's mouth stopped completely when his eyes met pink ones. To his dismay, they belonged to another sensei of his, standing at his side. She was short enough that he hadn't noticed her there until it was far, far too late.

"K-K-Kamijou-chan… Is this true…?" The little sensei called Komoe asked weakly as tears formed in her eyes.

The unfortunate boy froze. He had no answer for her. No matter what excuse he gave, that would not change the fact that Yomikawa had indeed slept in his dorm.

"Well… It's not what you think, Komoe-sensei. Eh… The thing is…" Kamijou tried to think his answer, glancing at the woman sitting on the desk for salvation. Her amused smile got even wider.

_'She's enjoying this isn't she…? What the heck is with this development!? I'm kind of feeling like an unfortunate protagonist from an eroge that's going to reach the bad ending!'_

The tears were quite visible on Komoe's eyes now. Even if he came up with a good excuse, it would probably do nothing to stop her from crying. Kamijou tensed in anticipation.

"K-K-KAMIJOU-CHAAAAAAN! How could you!?" The older(?) woman screamed, the tears finally overflowing.

_'Crap!'_

"Sensei! Don't cry! It not what you think! Really!" The boy waved his arms frantically.

"Why… Why are you not denying it!?" Komoe questioned between sobs.

Kamijou blinked as a horrible thought crossed his mind. Would today become as crazy as yesterday? Was seeing Misaki before coming to school a warning of some sort?

"Komoe-chan!" Yomikawa spoke with a strong voice, silencing the little teacher, at least momentarily, "Calm down, would you?"

"But! But...!" Komoe tried to retort, but was cut off by the hard glare that Yomikawa gave her.

Kamijou observed their conversation in silence.

"But nothing!" The busty sensei crossed her arms, eyes closed, "I can assure you that nothing happened between us if that is what you are worried about."

Kamijou wondered what Yomikawa meant by that, and why would Komoe get worried. Unless he or Yomikawa could get expelled for 'sleeping together'?

"I'm not worried about that!" The pink-haired girl shouted loudly, her face a flustered red, "It's just that kind of behaviour! It's wrong! A teacher and a student can't do something like that-desu!"

The unfortunate teen heaved a sigh. He knew that Komoe-sensei was right, but he also knew that this wasn't his fault. It was Yomikawa who decided by herself to pass the night in his dorm, after all, so he was happy to let her try to explain.

"I know what's wrong and what's not, you don't have to tell me that," Yomikawa scowled, her eyes moving to the side, "That's why I assure nothing happened. You're making such a fuss for something as unimportant as this."

"Then explain why you stayed at Kamijou-chan's dorm-desu!"

Kamijou glanced between both of his teachers as they exchanged serious looks. Yomikawa seemed to be thinking up an answer; he hoped it would be a good one.

"Fine, I'll tell you what happened if that's what you want," The woman finally spoke after a minute.

Yomikawa's statement didn't meet his lofty dreams: now he feared she would just say the truth.

"Proceed, then…" The adult with the looks of a kid said after rubbing her eyes with both hands. Kamijou could only watch in silent worry as their conversation unfolded.

Yomikawa lowered her head a bit, her eyes darting between the boy and her workmate.

"Do you remember what I told you yesterday?" The busty woman asked, "About Toum- I mean, Kamijou-kun and Fukiyose?"

Komoe seemed contemplative for some seconds before her eyes widened.

"You mean that assignment you gave them?" Yomikawa nodded as Komoe continued, "What does that have to do with you passing the night in Kamijou-chan's dorm?"

"I had to check the progress of his assignment so I came to his dorm."

_'Assignment…? Yeah right…'_

"You could have checked it today at school. And even if you decided to go to Kamijou-chan's dorm, there was no need for you to sleep in there-desu," The pinkette retorted.

_'Very true…'_

"You're right, I could have, if not for the fact that I needed it yesterday so I could send it to Anti-Skill," Yomikawa cast a wry glance at the unfortunate boy; that wasn't a good sign for him. "I slept in his dorm because it took us a bit to finish the investigation. It was very late and to leave to the streets by myself at that hour could have been kind of dangerous, so he kindly offered me to pass the night in his place."

"Guh!" Kamijou almost fell to the ground.

_'I offered her to pass the night in my place!? I don't remember it happening like that! Or do I? No! Wasn't it more like… she decided to stay by herself, also ignoring all my protests!?'_

Cold eyes traversed through the room until they reached Kamijou.

"You 'kindly' offered Aiho-chan to sleep with you-desu?" Surprisingly, Komoe was not in her usual mode, an adult reproaching a child for his pranks. Instead she gave a shockingly empty glare, "I'm amazed by your hospitality, Kamijou-san."

_'-san…? Did she just say… Kamijou-san?'_

"How many times do I have to repeat it? Nothing happened between us! He slept on his couch while I took the bed," Yomikawa's tone rose a bit.

"I-is that so?" Did he imagine it or did Komoe's eyes just light up?

Kamijou was a bit surprised; Yomikawa was actually lying to her friend. The boy trusted Komoe-sensei so he wouldn't have minded her knowing the truth, at least the important part of it. Kamijou hoped she had a good reason for the deception.

"But… what is that assignment or investigation or whatever you asked to Kamijou-chan?"

_'Kamijou-chan again… Phew!'_

Yomikawa didn't respond and only gave her a thoughtful look. The most obvious question was finally thrown at his busty sensei, but Kamijou couldn't tell if she had an answer for it.

"It's about the case I told you about some days ago. Kamijou-kun and Fukiyose were present during one of the incidents and they agreed to help me in the investigation."

_'Huh… Nice… even I would buy that.'_

"I see," Komoe said quietly.

"Did you tell her, Kamijou-kun? About you joining Judgment?" The blue-haired woman said, directing her eyes to the silent student, "This is why I offered him to help me in my investigation so he could get some 'field training'."

It took a moment for the import of Yomikawa's words to reach Komoe, and she stepped back.

To Kamijou they were an echoing death knell. _'Damn! Why did she have to bring that up?'_

"W-wait! What? Kamijou-chan wants to join Judgment?" The tiny sensei turned towards the boy, raising both hands to her chest in a cute manner, "When were you planning to tell me this-desu?"

Again, Kamijou found himself impressed by that woman. Yomikawa knew well that mentioning his joining the disciplinary committee would easily divert Komoe's attention.

"Well… Actually… I was planning to tell you today…" The boy spoke slowly, "I've… made up my mind yesterday…"

Komoe stared at him for some time so Kamijou wasn't sure if she would buy it, but at this point, he should at least try to follow Yomikawa's reasoning.

"Does that mean that Fukiyose-chan will join Judgment, too?"

The boy was struck speechless: what Komoe just said was completely ridiculous. Unexpectedly, the urge of laughing began to form inside him.

_'Fukiyose joining Judgment…? Fukiyose kicking the ass of every thief in AC? P-P-PUF!'_

Kamijou let out a little chuckle that became a loud laugh in mere seconds. The idea of Fukiyose joining Judgment was just too hilarious for him. Both teachers exchanged bewildered looks as they watched him lose control.

"What's so funny Kamijou-kun?" The woman with dark blue hair asked, but the hilarity made him ignore her.

A couple of minutes passed before his laugh finally died, his stomach aching from the exertion. Kamijou directed his eyes to Yomikawa, who was looking at him with a bothered countenance.

"Are you quite finished?" Her tone confirmed that she was in fact a bit upset.

The boy steadied his breathing before answering.

"Ah… Yeah, I'm finished. Sorry for my weird reaction, I have no idea what came over me."

"Just so you know, for when you're an adult, it's creepy to just laugh for no reason…" Komoe commented as she walked past him. "Anyway, classes are about to start, it's 8:42 already. Kamijou-chan, let's go-desu."

"8:42? How can that be?" Kamijou retrieved his cell from the pocket and opened it.

Kamijou directed his gaze to the upper part of the screen.

"Hey, it's 9:12. Why do yo-"

"It's not," Yomikawa spoke, cutting him off.

The boy blinked twice before turning around to face the busty sensei, who had sat back down. She had that same expression that told him that he was going to feel irritated soon.

"It's not? My phone says otherwise," Kamijou countered.

"It says that because I modified it."

"…What!? You modified it!?" The smug woman had fulfilled his dim prophecy.

Yomikawa just nodded, rendering Kamijou speechless.

"You're probably wondering why, I bet," Kamijou's eyes narrowed, suspecting he wouldn't like the answer. "I just wanted you to come earlier so we can talk a bit more, but oddly enough, you still came at the same hour."

Kamijou stared at her for a minute before sighing in disbelief. It all made sense now: why every student he saw in his race to school looked calmed, why no one was in a hurry except him.

_'Damn…'_

"So… it was just for that…? Geez…" Kamijou tore his school bag from Yomikawa's desk while avoiding her eyes, "I guess it's about Judgment, right?"

"Yep." Yomikawa affirmed, picking up a coffee mug from her desk. "Komoe-chan, lend me Kamijou-kun for a couple of minutes, please. I still need to discuss some details about the investigation."

"Okay, but you must explain to me later why you made that choice, Kamijou-chan," Komoe raised a finger, turning towards her unfortunate student, "As your educator, the responsibility falls on me to see you take the correct Road in life."

"I know, I know. I just need to fill in Yomikawa-sensei with some details about the… uh, graviton case…" The boy smiled, "It'll be just a couple of minutes."

Yomikawa made an amused expression after his words: he wondered why, but only briefly.

"I see…" Komoe nodded slowly, "I'll see you in the class then. Don't take long-desu."

Kamijou nodded as the kawaii little teacher left for her duties. He was beginning to wonder how many times he was going to find himself explaining difficult things to his teachers, already fearing a controlled life.

"So…" The boy glanced at the woman sitting at his side, "What do you want?"

"Before answering that, let me apologize for making you lie to her," A soft expression spread across her face. "But I don't think she needs to know about your wild experience in that alley. She'd only get worried and lecture you. I did you a favor, right?"

"I guess…" Kamijou's gaze moved to the roof. He knew she was right.

"On a side note, I noticed you used the graviton incident to solidify our alibi," She grinned, "While you tend to follow your instincts, this time at least you used your head."

Kamijou dead-panned at her statement, well aware of the backhanded compliment, "Are you implying I don't think things through? I'm not an idiot, you know."

The busty woman chuckled. He assumed she felt differently. Only further annoyed, he bitterly sighed.

"Sensei, let's make this quick. What do you want to tell me?" Kamijou asked, tone barely keeping respectful.

Yomikawa rested her back on the chair as she apparently relaxed her body, crossing her legs in a distracting manner.

"Wait for me outside of the school when classes are over, I will take you to Judgment's central office."

"...I'm really not up for this…" The boy murmured.

Yomikawa raised an eyebrow, annoyed.

"Whether you are up for this or not, it doesn't matter…" The woman punctuated her point by jabbing harshly at her folder-covered desk. "You're still going to do it."

The boy looked at her but sighed, finally accepting his cruel fate; his unavoidable reality.

_'Tell me something I don't know… Dammit…'_

Without saying another word, the boy walked out of the teacher's staff room feeling nothing but defeated.

**Part 4**

"How dare you, Kami-yan! You betray us yet again-nya!"

Kamijou Touma stared blankly at yet another bothersome greeting, this one coming from no other than Tsuchimikado Motoharu.

"What the heck are you yapping about now!?" Kamijou scowled.

"Don't play the fool with us, Kami-yan!" Aogami Pierce retorted, tugging Kamijou by his shirt, "We know what ya did!"

The confused boy waved Aogami's hands away and pushed him back, breaking free of his grip. Kamijou's left eyebrow twitched as he tried to figure out what was wrong with his two friends this time.

"Get to the point, dumbass! I don't remember doing anything that could be seen as a betrayal of any sort!" He crossed his arms testily, awaiting an explanation.

It was then that Kamijou noticed the glares, glances, and whispers coming from every student inside his class. Actually, since Fukiyose appeared, he could swear that every boy he saw on his way to the teacher's staff room in the school glared at him, which was kind of unsettling. In the end he decided to just shrug it off, thinking he was imagining it, but now he was unsure. He put his right hand to his head to make sure it wasn't a trick of the mind.

_'Nothing's going away…this isn't my imagination or something worse.'_

Thanks to the ruckus Aogami and Tsuchimikado were raising, the unfortunate boy was once more the center of attention. Kamijou could feel the killing intent emanating off every male in the room.

"Ya slept with one of the school goddesses, ya dick!"

_'Oh holy crap! Did Komoe-sensei tell them!?'_

Kamijou Touma knew it; another hell of a day was at hand.

"I don't know what you're talking about," The unfortunate boy said dryly, "I just want to sit on my desk; peacefully if possible."

Both Aogami and Tsuchimikado stood in front of him, blocking the only way to his seat.

"It shouldn't be surprising, really," The first mocked, casually pulling at his forelock, "Don't ya remember that yesterday, he even conquered Fukiyose, the Iron wall Girl no less!"

"Aw, c'mon! I did not conquer anyone... Whatever you mean by that…" Kamijou muttered, before suddenly shouting, "Just stop with that crap already!"

It was then that one of the question he had asked himself countless time came to his mind.

Why on earth did he still considered them his friends? The only thing they offered was annoyance whenever the opposite sex came up. To a degree he understood them, but only just a little bit.

_'After all, who wouldn't want to sleep with someone like Yomikawa...?'_

"Kami-yan has decided to go all out! Not even the teachers are safe now-nya!"

"I told you I have no idea of what are you talking about! Let me go already!" Kamijou pushed both teens to the sides, parting the way like the red.

Before Kamijou could reach his desk, someone else stood between him and his chair. The boy froze upon seeing who it was.

"Is it true?" The busty girl who he knew as Fukiyose asked, her tone strained to its breaking point.

"…What exactly?" The boy averted his gaze.

"Did you sleep with Yomikawa-sensei?" She pressed.

His worst fears had transpired. Somehow, news of his private life had spread like wildfire. He wondered if Komoe-sensei told someone, but quickly realized that wouldn't make any sense. People had been staring at him since he entered school, while his teacher only found out about this after.

_'Then… who spread the rumor?'_

However, brooding about it was a problem for later, "Wait, wait! What on earth are you saying? Who the heck told you that?" He snapped, nervously darting his eyes, "This is just some random rumor, don't take it seriously."

"It's not a rumor, it's a fact-nya! Maika told me," The blond stated with utter conviction, finally revealing the leak.

_'Maika…? Oh, damn it!'_

The sudden broadcast of yesterday events made sense now as Maika had stayed at the Tsuchimikado residence last night. She must have heard their talking and arguing through the walls.

"So it is true…" Fukiyose murmured, biting her lip.

Kamijou looked around him frantically, searching for something he knew he wasn't going to find: A way out of this mess. Though the hope that something could divert everyone's attention remained, he was already gearing up to accept his cruel reality.

"What do ya have to say for yarself, Kami-yan?" Aogami questioned him, his usual fake Kansai accent sounding more annoying than usual.

The unfortunate boy chose silence. Soon other students decided to join the fuzz, and the class descended into chaos.

"You're the worst, Kamijou!"

"Oh, come on, really!?"

"You're disgusting! It's not fair, damn it!"

"The bastard got the ultimate onee-san! I'm so freaking jealous!"

Within the chorus of bitter shouting, one came that belonged to Fukiyose, looking terribly upset. Her cries of anger were the only ones that really bothered him.

The little patience left in the boy completely evaporated, and Kamijou closed his eyes.

_'That's it!'_

Kamijou opened his eyes, and a fierce expression crossed his features. Most of the students around the unfortunate boy were taken aback due to his sudden change of demeanor; never had they seen such a serious face on their normally average classmate.

"Shut up and listen up everyone," He breathed deeply before continuing, "If I did it or not, it's no one's concern," Though he spoke without actually yelling, his frustration seeped out through his clenched teeth, "I don't have any obligation to explain myself to any of you."

The boy turned to Fukiyose, her widened eyes narrowing in disappointment when hers met his. He wasn't gonna let it last any longer.

"...But I still will explain. She did stay in my dorm, and that happened because she came to my apartment to discuss an investigation she's doing with Anti-Skill," Kamijou gave a quick glance around him. "It became late, so I offered to let her pass the night at my place... As most of you should know, to wander in the streets at night alone is dangerous. We just want to make a difference."

"So that's why you decided to join Judgment, huh… To help make this city safe," The boy hadn't expected to be interrupted, and he spun to see that voice came from Komoe-sensei, his homeroom teacher, "Now I understand everything-desu."

Varying degrees of shocked cries burst out of every one of Kamijou's classmates. Not least was the Imagine Breaker, as he nearly choked on his own tongue. _'_

_Damn it, can I not have secrets anymore!?'_

"WHAT!?" Both Aogami and Tsuchimikado shouted in unison, before staring at each other agape.

The shouting turned to hushed whispers, and an idea popped unbidden into Kamijou's mind.

_'...I wasn't planning on sharing that yet, but let's make the most of it. One distraction, coming up!'_

"Yeah… I've decided to join the Disciplinary Committee."

A weighty silence ruled the class for a few moments as the news sunk in.

"So any other complaints…? Or we can finally return to our seats and let Komoe-sensei do her job?" The spiky haired teenager said out loud, resting the hand holding his school bag slung over his shoulder.

No one spoke a word, only nodding in embarrassment and taking a seat. Tsuchimikado and Aogami did the same and as for Fukiyose…

"You really are full of surprises, Kamijou," The black haired girl said demurely, her sincere smile causing Kamijou no small amount of embarrassment. "I'm really sorry..." Her eyes averted to the ground, "...For thinking the worst without giving you the benefit of the doubt. I got carried away... Sorry…"

 _'…Lies, lies, lies. I hate them, so why are they always the answer?'_

Though unsure if he was doing the right thing by implying he joined Judgment of his own accord, he couldn't imagine what it would be like if people knew the truth. Would they really be happier knowing he technically only slept next to his teacher? Or would it have been better to let them think that he got laid? _'_

_Why are things so damn complicated!?'_

The answer was a definitive no, but he still felt guilty. Not only was he lying to his old friends, but also to his newest, Fukiyose. In a moment of determination, the boy decided that would not do: he would have to talk and tell her the truth later. If she got angry, then so be it. He owed her that much.

"Don't worry Fukiyose... This was just a misunderstanding, it's fine," Kamijou cast a glance at the little teacher, "Let's continue with the class, Komoe-sensei."

"Thank you, Kamijou-chan. Very well then, take out your books. Today we are going to study the Personal Reality-desu," Komoe announced, stepping to the podium.

Kamijou finally returned to his desk, glancing around as he did. He was still stared at by his classmates, but this time they showed admiration. At least, that was his guess, not being too familiar with the sensation.

Was joining Judgment some kind of honor? Something to be respected for? He couldn't be sure, but it looked like it might be and that made it all the worse. He was no Hero. Not only was he forced to join, now his class was looking at him like he already was one. All he wanted was to help people: being recognised and publicly praised wasn't a cost he relished paying for the privilege.

"Fukou da…" He whispered to himself after sighing. "Life sucks…"

The unfortunate level 0 stared through the windows at his side. Today's pretty blue sky did nothing to brighten his day.

**Part 5**

"So here we are! Anti-Skill's central building!"

Kamijou Touma was amazed by the size of the enormous building in front of him. Its modern look showcased Academy City's futuristic technology, more windows than walls, and the front entrance was connected to a longer main structure by a pleasant oval walkway. The symbol of Anti-Skill stood tall at the upper right corner of the structure, like the badge on their regulation jacket.

Despite the grandness of the building his sensei was leading him to, Kamijou's expression betrayed his boredom. A yawn drew Yomikawa's attention, who twisted her head to look behind her, eyes becoming focused like a laser onto him.

"Mind toning it down a notch? Cuz it's beginning to bother me, how excited you are," Yomikawa said sarcastically as she continued to stare at him over her shoulder.

"What face do you want me to put, sensei? Did you forget that my presence here is against my will?" Kamijou retorted as he scratched the back of his head.

"You could at least pretend that you aren't fed up…"

"No, because I am," Was his dry answer.

She sighed, "You're not going to make me feel bad about this, you know. Justice is always the answer, right? That's what an anime hero always says, isn't it?"

Kamijou winced at her word choice, but her passion and proud pose brought an unbidden smile, "...Anyway, weren't we supposed to go to the Judgment's central building?" The boy asked.

"Judgment's main quarters reside in this building as well, don't worry," Yomikawa grinned.

 **District 1** , where student and teacher were standing, was an important district in the city due to containing many administrative buildings. One such was the **White Building** , which Kamijou suspected was the place where the Board of Directors had their meetings. At least, it seemed important enough to him, those rare times he found himself nearby.

"I see… so, I brought all my papers. Will this be enough, sensei?" Kamijou asked, showing her his loose bundle of documents.

Yomikawa received them and examined them quickly.

_'Too quickly… did she really even read anything? She barely glanced at them!'_

Though he didn't particularly care for them, his handling was practically reverent compared to the way she stuffed them into her blazer. "This should do. C'mon! Let's go inside," The busty woman motioned Kamijou to follow her, but heard his dragging feet. "Change that attitude, will you? No matter what you do, you can't avoid this."

Kamijou rolled his eyes, all too aware of how right she was. There really was no use in acting like this.

"Fine. Let's do it!"

He took a more serious posture; he would deal with whatever Judgment would have in store for him.

**o-0-O-0-o**

"Four months of training!? Are you kidding me!?"

The boy shouted at the Judgment's counselor's words. The boy had expected some trouble in order to become a member, but four months of training seemed completely absurd. Not to mention the thirteen tryouts he would have to pass.

_'Did Yomikawa-sensei even know about this!?'_

"He's not kidding. Four months are required to teach you the necessary skills and knowledge for you to be an effective and full-fledged recruit," Yomikawa raised a hand, putting it then on Kamijou's shoulder.

He could only tsk and glare at her.

"Why is it that I always get dragged into annoying stuff like this...?" Kamijou cleared his throat, "Sensei, listen, I'm sorry but I am not going to do it after all."

"I knew you were going to say that," She smirked, "That's why I'm here."

"How are you going to try to convince me? Have any more blackmail?" Kamijou moved his left hand to massage his neck. "If I have to train for four damned months, I'm not going to have time to do anything, especially not help people! And what about if I finally decided to do… Ehh… What about if I finally decide to do my homework or something!?"

This time, the woman sighed.

"I know that. Just sign the paper so I can explain how you'll avoid those four months of training."

Kamijou raised a confused eyebrow. The two counsellors with them sported the same troubled expression that only furthered Kamijou's turmoil.

_'Avoid? So why am I even here?_

"Don't tell me you are going to send him to her…?" One of the counsellors spoke nervously.

Yomikawa glanced at the man before grinning. He slumped backwards in his chair, her smile was answer enough.

"For some reason I have a real bad feeling about this... But I'll bite. Care to tell me how you're going to pull this off? I mean, these four months of training... they aren't mandatory?"

The woman turned around, showing her back to the boy and looked at him over her shoulder as a sly smile formed on her lips.

"It's easy. If you can do the training of four months in just three weeks, would you be more willing to join?"

Both counsellors present in the room exchanged worried smiles.

"That's not... great... but I'm listening," Kamijou furrowed his eyebrows.

The boy was sure he was going to regret those words, but it wasn't like he could see a way to get off the hook without him accepting at least some of the crap. He would just have to see if an acceptable solution would come out of this mess.

**Part 6**

After signing nine contracts in a row—in which Kamijou accepted the goals, ideals and responsibilities of an agent of order as well as the conditions and rules needed to become one—the boy was taken to yet another office, but unlike the first time, he was told to wait in the reception area as his teacher entered.

_'Really…? How much more of my evening am I gonna have to waste?'_

More than 20 minutes had passed since Yomikawa left, and Kamijou was getting impatient. The boy tapped his foot repeatedly on the ground as the minutes wore on.

And on.

And on.

And—

"Gah! I'm falling asleep here! This is so boring!" Kamijou shouted to no one in particular as he rose from the sofa in which he was sitting, "I swear I'll just give her five more minutes..."

The cute receptionist busy writing at her desk by the office's door glared coolly at the boy. Kamijou sat on the sofa again and decided it would be better to just remain silent.

And now that she got his attention, he chose to observe for a moment. She had shoulder-length dark-green hair, and was dressed formally for her secretarial role. She narrowed her eyes at his stare but resumed her work as Kamijou leaned back on the couch, letting a sigh escape from his lips.

"I suppose if Yomikawa-san brought you here, she must trust you," To the boy's surprise, the receptionist commented, her gaze still on the documents in her grasp.

"…Why do you say that?" Kamijou asked.

"Because she brought you here. Don't you know whose office is this?"

Kamijou frowned as he glanced at the name at the side of the door that led to the aforementioned office.

_'Tsukino Yui…? Who's that?'_

"I have no idea, but…" His voice finally made the green-haired woman turn her face towards him, "…Some enlightenment would be appreciated…"

The woman lowered her head at bit as if to get a better look at him. She then stood up and walked up to him, making the boy a bit nervous at her unexpected approach.

"You seriously don't know?" Kamijou shook his head, "…She's an elite member and leader of the second Anti-Skill's Anti-Riot Unit and pretty much a legend around here. She's also my boss," The woman moved her gaze to the side and raised a finger, putting it on her chin on a rather cute manner, "Although, she doesn't really behave like one, always neglecting her duties…"

Kamijou raised an eyebrow at such a detailed description.

_'Should I really know about this person?'_

"Eh… well, this is my first time hearing about her," Kamijou scratched his left cheek as he resettled on the sofa. "Anyway, why did you say that Yomikawa-sensei trusted me, miss…?"

The receptionist—who now seemed a lot younger than she did at first sight—chuckled.

"Inoue Shizuka, and my friends call me Shizu-chan," The girl winked slyly.

_'Mmm… that was… not bad.'_

"Nice to meet you _…_ Inoue-san, I'm Kamijou Touma," He decided to play it cool.

Inoue nodded slightly and leaned her head to the side as she smiled. If he didn't know better, he would have thought this girl might actually be flirting with him.

_'…Nah… Not a chance. Pull it together, Kamijou-san.'_

As always, he accepted his reality and destroyed his own illusions.

"Kamijou-kun it is then…" The woman spun elegantly and glanced at him from over her left shoulder, "Good luck, Kamijou-kun. You will need it."

A dark smile formed on her lips after she said this, leaving Kamijou more wary than confused. If he would really need luck, it was clear **Inoue Shizuka** knew why.

It wouldn't hurt to ask, "If you don't mind telling me, why is that? Luck for what exactly?" The boy asked as he stood up.

The woman that sat back at her desk smiled even more broadly than before. It didn't ease his nerves.

"You'll see, Kamijou-kun…" Inoue replied, a throaty chuckle betraying trace amounts of sadism. "…You'll see."

At that, the green-haired woman said no more and returned to her work. The silence that followed ratcheted Kamijou's newfound paranoia to new heights.

_'Okay then, I was only annoyed at this entire thing at first, but now it's starting to bother me...'_

The boy quickly rose and went to her desk. Inoue gave no sign of noticing him, as if she didn't care. Neither did he, for he spoke to her regardless.

"What do you mean? What's all this about?" The teen asked, crossing his arms.

No reply came, the receptionist just continued on with her work and didn't give him even the tiniest glance. She completely ignored him.

" _…_ Alright, I guess you're busy," Kamijou sighed, realizing she wasn't going to divulge anything else, "I won't bother you anymore, Inoue-san."

Kamijou Touma returned to the sofa and fell on it again.

_'Why do I feel like I'm waiting for an appointment with an executioner? Fukou da…'_

The sound of a door opening at his side stopped his grim thoughts. The woman responsible for his predicament stepped out from within and grinned at the boy.

"Hey, don't just stay there, come on in!" Yomikawa urged.

Kamijou scowled in response.

_'If she's not going to even apologize for making me wait, I'm really going to start disliking her again.'_

"Whatever!" Kamijou retorted as he stood up to meet the busty woman, "Let's get this over with already. I'm tired and it would be nice if I could get a good night's sleep tonight."

"So… You couldn't sleep much with me at your side? That's cute," Yomikawa teased.

As always, Yomikawa seized yet another opportunity to annoy him. Kamijou asked himself mentally if he did something to deserve it. Was being cruel just part of her personality, or was he just being singled out for his reactions? These questions, he feared, would forever remain unanswered.

"Let's just get it over with!" The spiky-haired teen strode past her and entered the office.

He was greeted by the sight of a large office, with furniture spread evenly. However, his attention was drawn to a striking young girl, sat on wide chair by an abnormally big wooden desk with detailed carvings. As he approached, he came to observe her in detail. She had white hair and golden eyes behind glasses, and wore some kind of black outfit with yellow edges, the symbol of Anti-Skill proudly displayed over her left chest. Kind of fancy is he was to be honest.

"So he's the boy, huh?" The girl said with no amusement as she lay her glasses down carefully, staring at him intently, "Are you sure about this, Aiho? He doesn't look like he'll endure it."

_'Endure…? Endure what?'_

Kamijou stopped dead in his tracks and remained silent as Yomikawa explained.

"Of the three I have brought you, I'm definitely sure of this one," Yomikawa answered quickly, "I bet 10000 yen that he's going to finish the three weeks alive."

_'Alive!? What did she mean by… alive? Why has everything I've heard since I came here make it sound like I'm going to die? Why is she betting when my life is supposedly at stake!?'_

He narrowed his gaze in disbelief, staring at the two.

_'Why is that cold woman betting about this in the first place? How on earth Yomikawa managed to even become a full-fledged educator when she bets with the life of her own poor students!?'_

"You said the same last time but fine, I accept," Kamijou's jaw dropped, "Remember you still own me 4000 yen from the second disappointment, so you better pay it all up when you lose."

_'What are they talking about? She just accepted that bet without thinking! Is that girl so sure that I'm going to die!? What's gonna happen to me? Since yesterday, all females have gone nuts!'_

"I won't lose this time, Yui… I trust him," To Kamijou's great mental agitation, Yomikawa voice was full of confidence, confidence that he personally didn't reciprocate. He almost believed that she trusted him for a second, but after all that happened since yesterday, he was convinced this was some kind of joke.

The girl, now confirmed as the supposed legend of Anti-Skill, **Tsukino Yui** , frowned at the woman's statement. It seemed she was startled by Yomikawa's tone. His certainty of his sensei's bad joke faded in the face of her surprise.

"I… really hope you're right…" Tsukino eyed the boy, and he returned the gesture. "Well then… We'll start tomorrow morning. I trust that you'll inform his school about his absence for the coming days, Yomikawa."

"Hey! Hold up!" Kamijou interrupted as he gave a step forward, "Absence? I just can't miss school like that! Sensei, I understand you wanted me to join Judgment but missing school is _not_ an option for me. You should know that better than anyone."

Yomikawa crossed her arms over her chest as she moved closer to the teen. She then leaned towards him making Kamijou gulped at her proximity.

"You think I don't know that? Stop stating the obvious, would you?" Yomikawa moved even closer to him, and Kamijou couldn't help peeking at her voluptuous chest bouncing with her motion.

Kamijou's eyes darted between her face and the face of Tsukino, who looked on stoically. So no help there…

"I'm a student! You always seem to forget it… Or maybe you don't care!" Kamijou replied as he took a step back.

Yomikawa's face shifted from slightly upset to mocking confidence. Kamijou readied himself for whatever ridiculous plan she had in mind.

"And yet you do what you do, no? Komoe and me are going to take care of your studies after your training sessions anyway," Yomikawa put one hand one her chin as in lost in thought, "We could gather at your place, Touma-kun."

Kamijou gave the woman a blank stare; neither said a word for a minute.

"Whatever!" The white-haired girl in the room cut the silence, "Just be sure to bring him here tomorrow at 6 a.m." Tsukino spun in her chair, facing away. "Now you two, get out of my office! I need to sign some papers and I don't need anyone distracting me."

"Yeah, right… If I remember correctly, all you do in this office is sleep," The woman moved her gaze from Tsukino to her own nails, busily cleaning them.

"Whether I do that or not is not your business!" The gold-eyed girl retorted.

Kamijou facepalmed, a rising tide of exhaustion overwhelming him. He just wanted to go to bed and not think about the next few weeks.

"It _is_ my business! You're the leader of an entire squad of Anti-Skill, and if I recall right, we are partners!"

Tsukino pouted at that, a sight that caught the boy's attention. He had to admit it was a cute expression, making him wonder how old she was. Tsukino looked rather young, but to hold such authority within this kind of organization would have taken time and work. Maybe she was like Komoe-sensei, someone who was old but looked deceptively young.

"Complaints, complaints. All I hear is complaints! Don't you all have more important things to do? Like catching delinquents or terrorists or something?" The leader of the Second Anti-Riot squad growled, closing one eye and massaging her neck.

Yomikawa opened her mouth, but was interrupted by several sharp knocks on the door. Everyone in the room turned to it as someone entered in a hurry.

"Captain!" Yet another girl appeared dressed with the Anti-Skill uniform, whose dark-green hair was tied in a ponytail. She pushed back her glasses that had nearly fallen with her hurried entry, "The graviton bomber has attacked again! Civilians have been compromised this time!"

Tsukino sighed while Yomikawa's face became grave. It wasn't first time Kamijou heard the term 'graviton', and the strange occurrence with the doll came to his mind.

_'Graviton bomber? Wait… The doll that exploded… Was she referring to the same kind of explosion? Another occurred!?'_

"How many casualties?" Yomikawa inquired as Kamijou focused, abruptly wide awake.

"A-a cou—a pair of students!" The girl stuttered for some reason, "The attack occurred in District 15, more exactly, in 23rd Street by the Kagaya Bank!"

Kamijou expected to hear Yomikawa, but it was Tsukino who spoke.

"Was the Bank damaged in any way by the explosion?"

Kamijou narrowed his eyes. Was this girl more concerned about the building? What about the people that were caught by it?

"…N-No…" Nervously, their subordinate reported.

"Anything else of importance?"

The green-haired girl blinked, looking thoughtful for several seconds. Another detail quickly came to her mind at her apparently.

"One of the students belonged to Judgment…"

Kamijou's eyes widened after her words while his sensei and the other girl exchanged looks.

_'A Judgment member…? Shit…'_

Kamijou gritted his teeth in anger, upset that this bomber seemed to be eluding the authorities.

"See? This is what I was referring to! Everyone here should be focusing on finding that bastard instead of watching me all the time!" Tsukino shouted and pulled off her glasses again, "Or do you need me to take care of this mess?"

"No," The busty woman answered seriously, walking to the green-haired girl. "You had to come all the way here to tell me about this? You could have called me," Her casual reprimand made it seem his sensei and that girl knew each other.

_'Idiot Kamijou-san, she's a member of Anti-Skill like Yomikawa-sensei. They must know each other, they probably even work together.'_

"Well… I guess I should have done that…"

_'Well, my guess here is that she's the clumsy and forgetful type…'_

Yomikawa sighed, before striding to the door.

"C'mon… let's go," As Kamijou's sensei directed her colleague, she looked over her shoulder to the teen. "Kamijou-kun, you should leave now. I'll come to get you tomorrow, so remember to set your alarm."

The boy's expression became serious as he nodded, watching them depart.

From what he could gather, someone was attacking the city with some kind of bomb-trigger ability; after negating the explosion yesterday, Kamijou was sure that the bomber was an esper. Yet he was unsure how this terrorist eluded the police's grasp.

Thinking back hard to his oft-forgotten class, he recalled Komoe-sensei mentioning that every person living in the AC was documented. There existed a database that had info about anyone within the city, and far more about those who underwent the Power Curriculum Program. Why not review the info on all the espers to see who had such abilities and then start questioning them?

"I don't understand why you—"

"If your business here is over, kid, then leave my office. I have work to do," Tsukino interrupted the boy, her gold eyes directed at him. "And I don't want imbeciles bothering me, so take a hike already!"

Kamijou furrowed his eyebrows at her rude words. It wasn't like he wanted to stay in this stupid place, nor hear rotten words any longer. But he merely breathed deeply and left.

The boy walked in silence, a thoughtful expression on his face. After a day of lows, he was now in a truly foul mood, and he had that obnoxious woman to thank for it.

His inner musings came to a halt when a voice called from behind. Kamijou barely found the will to stop, and even then he only turned his head a bit.

"I can assure you, she's not a bad person. Just give her some time," The receptionist shortened the distance between them. "She can be a tad rude, but she doesn't mean it."

Kamijou's eyes moved to the side as he put his hands on his pockets. The spìky-haired boy had tried his best to hide his anger, but from the woman's cautious tone he could tell he failed.

"I don't really care," He retorted simply and to the point. "I'll just leave."

He probably imagined it but the girl seemed taken aback by his cold response, something she honestly should had expected. Kamijou was forced into coming here, hell, he had to take the shit from someone idiotic such as that Tsukino girl. He was _not_ in the mood for more nonsense.

"…I didn't mean to ignore you, sorry… Before, I mean…" To his surprise, Inoue apologized, "I know I came as disrespectful, but I wanted to scare you off."

Kamijou raised an eyebrow, but his anger hadn't abated. He appreciated her brutal sincerity but it still annoyed him to no end.

"Why did you want to scare me?" His voice was dry, "I guess you think you had a good reason?"

Inoue now looked unsure of her next words. Well aware his attitude was the cause, he decided to be magnanimous and give her time to respond.

"I know what happened to the students that came before you… that's why I decided to do it," The woman with green hair crossed her arms, displaying doubt, "If I scared you, then you'd probably change your mind about doing the three-weeks training with Tsukino-san."

"But what happened to them? Did they die?" Kamijou tensed in anticipation, "They said they didn't finish the training alive."

Inoue shook her head slightly and closed her eyes.

"That's what they said…?" Inoue lowered her voice, before chuckling weakly. "They were just testing your resolve... so are you still going to go through with this?"

Kamijou scratched his head as a nervous chuckle escaped his lips. The teen knew he had no choice about this matter. If he wanted to help and protect the people in this city, he had to do it. If hard, dangerous training was what it would take to accelerate becoming an official member of Judgement, then so be it.

"Yeah."

"I see… But it's not just really hard training. Those two students left AC because they were ashamed of their failure."

Kamijou blinked twice before grimacing.

"They left the city just for failing boot-camp? Isn't that a bit exaggerated?"

Inoue averted her gaze to the ground, she looked sad. What happened with them?

"Not when you are in love with the one testing you… They both fell in love with Tsukino-san but irredeemably failed to finish the training. She rejected both of them so badly for not having what it takes to be her equal."

 _'…What…? Fall in love…? Seriously? Can this get anymore ridiculous?'_

Kamijou could only remain speechless as he processed what he just heard.

"Is that... the truth?" The woman nodded. "I can't believe it, but hey... even if I fail, it's not like I'll fall in love with her; you don't have to worry about that. But what were those guys thinking anyway? Falling in love in such short time of knowing her to the point of feeling depressed for disappointing her? That's just dumb, you know?"

"You say that because you have yet to start the training. You don't know her yet. I can still remember the mortified expressions they had when they were rejected… Tsukino-san is really harsh."

Kamijou scratched his cheek in exasperation. He just had to wonder what kind of people those two students were _…_ most likely a couple of idiots. Whatever the case, something as bizarre as that wasn't going to stop him.

_'Getting depressed over stuff like that…That's just plain silly.'_

"I've noticed her attitude. But even so, I'll take the risk. Thanks for worrying though, it was nice of you."

" _…_ You should know that the first one managed to endure four days of training while the second one only lasted two and a half."

_'Four days out of three weeks? And the other didn't even manage to complete the third day? What kind of training could have made them quit so quickly?'_

Kamijou closed his eyes, and gathered his thoughts as the seconds ticked and passed.

A smirk appeared on his face.

"I don't like going back on my word. I'll see this through and if I am destined to fail, then so be it."

Inoue stared at him dumbfounded before a grin found its way to her face.

"If you've decided, then there's nothing I can do. Whatever reasons you may have, I'llroot for your safety and success."

Kamijou tilted his head to the side as his smirk widened, and though he turned to the exit, he still gazed at her at the corner of his eyes.

"You're a good person, Inoue-san. Thank you… I'll see you tomorrow then."

The receptionist blinked, but smiled warmly. It somehow calmed his heart, and he felt his anger finally dissipate.

"OK, see you tomorrow then… By the way…" Inoue winked at him, her charming sly smile back on her face, "…I'm just nineteen so I wouldn't mind you making your move first."

"Eh?" The boy's face became confused as she giggled.

_'Did she mean what I just heard?'_

"I'm just joking, Kamijou-kun… Right?" The girl turned around and returned to her desk. "See you tomorrow."

 _'Geez… Guess that's one way to say goodbye…'_

The boy turned around and left the hallway, his mind spinning with mixed thoughts. Hopefully it would be possible to sort it all out at home.

**Part 7**

After leaving Tsukino's office, Kamijou headed down a corridor to Judgment's central office to retrieve his documents. Inside, he also received some papers that accredited him as a new recruit for Judgment's ranks.

The boy checked one of the papers; the middle part caught his attention.

_'Branch-177? Wow… How many branches are there?'_

The document confirmed he would be joining **Judgment's 177-branch** , and he wondered who else belonged to it.

As the boy left the Anti-Skill Building, the guard at the entrance returned his school bag, which he had completely forgotten he had brought. Thinking back, he left it inside Yomikawa's car so she must have given it to this man before leaving.

"Well, this wasn't all bad. Inoue-san seems nice…" The teen commented to himself as he nodded proudly. "Make your move, she said huh…"

Kamijou shook his head. The girl who was surprisingly young —just nineteen— said she was joking, so that was the end of that. Still, anyone can dream, right?'

The sun had almost disappeared behind the skyline: the city was lit more by its own lights, making the enormous buildings a bright spectacle. Between them, Kamijou walked down the illuminated streets as he headed back home.

"What a day… Almost as rough as yesterday…" Kamijou stretched his arms and then pulled out his phone, "6:29… Hmm… Maybe I could check out that branch office before I go to the dorm…"

Kamijou leaned against a wall at his side and opened his school bag. From it, he grabbed one of his new Judgment papers. The level 0 examined the document from top to bottom as he searched for the address of his soon-to-be office.

"Where is it, where is it…? I swear I saw an address in this one… Oh! There it is!" Kamijou read carefully before smiling, "District 7, huh? That's convenient… Ok, then."

With a new destination in mind, Kamijou turned left on the corner to meet his future head on.

**o-0-O-0-o**

"I guess this is it…"

After 20 minutes or so of walking, Kamijou finally found the spot. A mustard-coloured 5-story building was the home of the branch, on the second floor. A green sign with white letters confirmed his impression, and a blinking red arrow gestured up a narrow stairway.

"Up we go, I guess," Kamijou said to no one as he climbed up the stairs. At the end was a crisply painted green door.

The wielder of the Imagine Breaker knocked on it several times but no response came.

"I didn't come here for nothing," The boy grabbed the doorknob; to his pleasant surprise it turned, and the door opened.

Kamijou stepped forward and glanced inside cautiously. He saw a plain short corridor with two doors at the right side, one on the left and another one at the end of it. Dim fluorescent roof lighting gave the room an institutionally sinister feel.

As Kamijou stepped inside, he noticed a light from the second door on the right; which was half-opened. The teen approached it slowly, and as he did, he heard a voice from within.

"The branch office must be here," Kamijou murmured to himself as he finally reached the half-opened door. "Crap… Now that I'm here, I don't want to go in… But going back feels even worse... Maybe just a peek?"

The boy leaned in to the opening for a better view, trying to avoid being seen. Something important might be happening inside, and until he knew it wouldn't be bad to barge in it was better to be subtle.

The first thing he laid eyes on were a couple of desks covered with papers, in fact, every surface in the room seemed covered with boxes, files, books-

"Excuse me?"

Kamijou moved his gaze to the right; a girl was staring at him in mild confusion. She had short black hair, brown eyes and was wearing a strangely familiar school uniform, and on her brow was a headband made of flowers.

"Do… Do you need something?" She asked.

The boy smiled nervously as he finally stepped into the open, out in front of the flower-headed girl. The boy cursed himself for being caught peeping just now. For all he knew, that girl would think of him as some kind of stalker.

"Well… I…" Kamijou sighed. The girl looked like a good person so he might try as well to just say the truth, "I'm a new recruit for this branch; I just came to see the place where I was going to be assigned to."

"Oh…" The girl delicately placed a finger on her lips, looking thoughtful. Kamijou wondered if she belonged to Judgment, he couldn't see the green armband the members used anywhere on her.

Suddenly, the eyes of the girl shone likes stars, and that could only mean one thing…

"Shouku—"

"A new member for this branch!? Really!?" To Kamijou's surprise, the girl interrupted him, nigh bursting with excitement. "Come in! I'll make some tea."

The cheerful girl motioned for him to follow, and he did so hesitantly. She didn't look like she was being controlled; he pretty much knew how Misaki made his 'puppets' act. After a moment he decided she really was just thrilled at the thought of a new member joining the 177 branch. That would pretty much confirm that she was also a member of the disciplinary committee, but he knew it was still a pretty weak conjecture.

Entering the office fully, the boy glanced around. The office was sizeable, but not too imposing. There were some desks, a computer on one of them, full bookshelves, a mini living room and a tiny kitchen where the girl was headed. All in all it wasn't too bad of a place, considering that he would be coming here every day in the future should he pass.

"You are the only one here, eh…" His voice made the girl turn towards him.

"…Oh! How rude of me. My name is Uiharu Kazari, also a member of Judgment," The girl bowed, putting both hands over her skirt.

The unfortunate teen smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Uiharu. I'm Kamijou Touma," The boy nodded slightly as he glanced at a board located at the left side of one of the desks.

His eyes widened when he saw the word 'graviton' written on the upper part of it.

_'Is Judgment also following the graviton-bomber case? Well, of course they are, they help Anti-Skill after all.'_

"So Kamijou-san, I guess that you managed to pass all the trials," The girl called Uiharu Kazari chirped as she continued to brew the tea, her back to him. "You must be skilled for having been assigned to a branch so quickly. Training is hard, but I can tell you it is worth it."

"Well… not exactly…" The boy spoke hesitantly," I have yet to start my training, but one of the documents I received after making my paperwork for my recruitment to Judgment told me that I was going to be assigned to this branch when I finished."

Uiharu stopped what she was doing and turned around, sporting a confused expression.

"You were already assigned to a branch without receiving the proper training…? That's not possible," The girl commented with mild surprise. "How did you manage to get assigned without the approval of the Central Judgment Committee?"

"…Wait… What?" Kamijou raised his eyebrows in confusion, "…Well… my teacher made the paperwork for me so I'm not sure. You're saying I shouldn't have been assigned yet?"

Uiharu nodded slowly and grabbed a tray with two cups of tea before walking to where he was sitting. The girl leaned slightly towards him as she offered one of the cups.

"Thanks," Kamijou accepted the beverage with a smile.

"When I decided to join Judgment, I was only assigned to this branch after finishing 5 months of training…" Uiharu took a little sip of her tea, "It was really hard for me but here I am, an official member of this branch!" She smiled proudly.

_'Five months? Why five? They said it was four, no?'_

"Maybe this was just a mistake, I don't know… I guess I shouldn't even be here," Kamijou drank his tea, but almost spilled it everywhere, "Guh! My tongue!"

"B-be careful! It's hot! I didn't thought you would drink it like that, I'm sorry…"

Kamijou shook his head slightly to reassure her as he gingerly put down his cup.

"I'm fine, don't sweat it. It wasn't that hot," Kamijou lied, it burned like hell, making his lips a bit red. "In any case, I… really shouldn't be here then. Like I told you before, I just came here to see the place, not act as a member of this branch… At least not yet…"

"Oh… I see…" The girl directed her gaze to the cup of tea she was holding, she looked somehow disappointed and it made Kamijou a bit unconfortable, even if he didn't do anything wrong.

Kamijou couldn't find any words to say, they just wouldn't come and the awkward silence was beginning to crate a nerve The boy grabbed his school bag from the sofa at his left side and stood up, getting Uiharu out of her trance.

"Well… I need to go… Thanks for the tea, Uiharu-san," Kamijou said, nodding slightly to her and then walked to the entrance door.

"…Thanks for the visit, Kamijou-san," The voice of the black-haired girl made him stop from grabbing the doorknob. "I hope everything goes well for you, and that you come here next time as a true member of this branch. You know, we could always use an extra hand!"

The boy chuckled weakly.

_'I don't know... This right hand of mine isn't usually so helpful...'_

"I will," Kamijou said as he turned around, but his way was blocked.

"Who are you?"

Kamijou was taken aback by the new presence in the room. Kamijou had seen all the office, and he was sure it only held one entrance, but there was a small girl standing before him, hands on her hips.

_'Where on earth did she come from!?'_

Putting this enigma aside, Kamijou was more than surprised when he saw she sported the Tokiwadai uniform, realizing she must be another student of that insane prep school, thus he felt a sense of dread slowly overcome him. Her tawny hair was tied with red bows into two curly pigtails at each side of her head, letting the rest hang between them. She also wore the green armband from Judgment, unlike the girl who had welcomed him.

"He's Kamijou Touma-san, a future member of this branch, Shirai-san."

Kamijou gave Uiharu a curious look at her wording, which she apparently took in the wrong way as she lowered her head to avoid his gaze. The girl called Shirai crossed her arms, looking disinterested.

"Is that so…?" The pig-tailed girl gave him a stern look, "…I'm Shirai Kuroko. As you can see, I'm a member of Judgment."

"I figured that much by looking at that armband, hehe… he…" Kamijou's forced chuckle dissipated due to Shirai's indifferent stare, "A-anyway, I was just leaving… Eh… Shirai-san…"

"Explain something to me first. What did Uiharu mean by 'future'? I could be wrong but I think this means that you are not one now, so why are you here?" Her tone became inquisitive as her eyes bore into him, "You're not a member yet, so why does she say you'll succeed?"

"Umm… well…"

Shirai turned to her fellow partner and glared at her.

"And how do you know he will join this branch? You should know that anyone who finishes the training is assigned to a branch immediately," Shirai, moved her glare to the unfortunate boy, who was now looking perplexed. "There's no such thing as 'will join'… This is very suspicious…"

Kamijou observed the girl carefully. He could tell that, for some reason, Shirai's body language showed tension. It was subtle but it was there. This girl didn't just distrust him apparently, but was so wary that she was considering Kamijou as if he was a criminal.

In the end, the truth was that from the outset, he was irritated by her personality.

"While I shouldn't have to explain myself to you, I will," Though bothered, he decided to avoid a misunderstanding. "I have papers here confirming what your partner said. I belong to this branch, but I won't be officially a member until I finish my... 'special training'."

_'Geez, why didn't this come to me while I was talking to Uiharu…'_

The boy's tone noticeably annoyed the girl, and her glare took on a new intensity, as if she was scrutinising some bug about to be stepped on. To the side Uiharu seemed startled, but a gleam quickly lit her eyes. Kamijou wondered what she was thinking, but was distracted again by the other girl.

"Special training you say…?" Kamijou nodded as he daringly gave one-step towards the door behind her. "Right…" Shirai muttered, just inside earshot.

The girl with tawny hair eyed Uiharu and then spoke again, ignoring Kamijou's piercing gaze.

"I came for Onee-sama's cell phone, Uiharu. Where did you say you put it?"

The flower-headed looked confused before turning around, grabbing something from one of the drawers of the desk behind her, and gave it to Shirai.

"Here it is, Shirai-san."

"Thanks…" The pig-tailed girl pocketed it and then crossed her arms, directing her gaze back to him, "Fine then… I remember you said you were leaving… Kamijou-san it was?" The boy narrowed his eyes, not pleased she was basically kicking him out of the room.

However, he wasn't going to let his annoyance show in respect of the other girl.

"See you soon, Uiharu-san. I may come back here sooner than expected," Kamijou said, sporting a kind smile, and he spared a dry look for Shirai as he did. He had to admit his words were chosen to annoy the pig-tailed brat, but he hoped he looked cool while doing so. "I mean, who knows, right?"

The black-haired girl looked startled, but then smiled brightly while the pig-tailed one pursed her lips.

"Right… Good luck with your special training, Kamijou-san," The boy nodded. "Take care of yourself."

After Uiharu said those words, Kamijou turned around to leave, but tarried among moment longer.

"Thanks… You both… take care as well," He glanced at them over his shoulder, a somewhat condescending tone to his words. He had wanted to annoy the Tokiwadai brat, and from her sour look he apparently succeeded. With a smirk painted on his face, Kamijou walked out of the office without another word.

As he left, he heard Shirai saying something behind his back. He didn't need to pretend to not care at all.

Kamijou left the building in silence and headed back to his apartment.

**o-0-O-0-o**

"Finally! Home, sweet home!"

Kamijou praised aloud as he swung open the door of his dorm. To his relief, everything was as he left it this morning. The boy removed his shoes, leaving them in the entrance and closed the door behind him.

It was 7:14 p.m.

"Damn I'm hungry…" Kamijou said to himself, walking to the kitchen and opening the fridge. "Hmm? I guess this will have to do."

The teen grabbed a bowl of leftovers from yesterday.

"Kake Soba… It's supposed to be eaten fresh, but I'm sure one day won't make much difference. Beggars can't be choosers…" Kamijou commented, sliding the bowl into the microwave.

Three minutes later he was seated at his tiny living room table, cross-legged and comfortable. But even then, he sighed.

"Geez…"

Though today wasn't nearly as bad as yesterday, it had still been a trial, but the boy was finally accepting it was likely all for the best. If having to endure this kind of crap everyday would let him to keep helping anyone who needed it, then he would just deal with it.

Just before the boy could taste the warm food on the bowl resting on the table's surface, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

"Oh… a message? From who?" Kamijou took it out and opened it, giving it a quick glance, "It's from Yomikawa-sensei? What now…?" Exasperated, he forced himself to read it well.

_\- Touma-kun, I'll come to get you at 5:50 tomorrow morning. Set your alarm and sleep early so you won't be tired for the training. You're going to have to be in your best condition for this so sleep 8 hours, ok? I'll take care of telling school and the director. Don't worry, he'll understand. I'll make sure of that._

Kamijou sighed. Not only was he going to have to endure a difficult training, but it would take place so early in the day. And that wasn't mentioning the make-up classes that he would be forced to have each night. His misfortune just kept piling on.

The boy sighed yet again and put his cell phone on the table. Suddenly it vibrated again.

"Another message? What did she forget to tell me…?"

Kamijou grabbed his phone again and opened it, but was surprised that it was someone new.

Someone anonymous.

**I am AL443WAYS watc-hing_you… I AM-ALW(º)AYS_wa34tc¿?hing YOU… _462_I am_alw+ays-wat(ch5ing YOU… I'm AL-WAY_s Wa6*66tCH_hing yoU… I_) &%_AM waAA_TC=)H-ING OVER_yOu… I?aºM ALW_/-AYS WA-_TC/&%HING… 7_=)_0**

The boy's eyes widened in fright, and a chill ran through his skin.

His phone slipped from frozen fingers and promptly fell on the table.

'What the hell is this!? Some kind of sick joke!?' But Kamijou felt observed again, the same way he had at the school this morning.

Nervously, the teen stood up and observed his surroundings; nothing looked out of the ordinary. He walked into the kitchen, the bathroom and his small laundry nook but everything looked fine.

But that invisible, watching gaze remained.

Kamijou finally stood still next to his bed and stared at the balcony. Gulping as he slowly made his way towards it, he ripped it open with one swing, stepping forward to meet head on the mysterious challenge.

Cold air was all that greeted him, and he shivered as it chilled his anxious sweat. On the small space of his balcony, there was nothing but darkness.

"Geez… What is going on…?" Kamijou whispered, wiping at his forehead with unease.

The unfortunate teen waited for something, anything, to happen, but the silence remained unbroken.

Yet the hostile feeling dissipated, and soon it was as if nothing had ever happened.

Kamijou breathed deeply and returned to his dorm, closing and locking it tightly behind him. He did the same in the entrance door as soon as he could reach it.

The boy sat again in the same place he was before, and picked up his mobile phone.

Kamijou's eyes widened yet again.

The horrifying message he had just received was nowhere to be found. Kamijou navigated through his inbox but it was not there, and he was sure he didn't delete it.

The boy scrolled all the way to the bottom, and his paranoia was rewarded. In the very last spot was another anonymous message, marked as read. It was before the very first text he could remember making when he bought this phone. He couldn't recall ever having that message, and yet... 

It had no words: only one symbol.

**:)**

That smiley face was all it had to say.

Kamijou's eyes narrowed as he closed his phone, tension building up.

_'This is just freaking disturbing; how am I going to sleep now? What rotten timing for a prank!'_

Kamijou threw his phone at the bed, laid his head on the table and sat silent for an endless minute. His gaze finally fell down on the bowl between his hands.

"…I'm still hungry…" The boy grunted.

After gazing at his food for some seconds, he took a portion to his mouth with his old set of chopsticks.

He pulled a sour face.

…

"It's cold."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The stain on Touma's t-shirt was actually Yomikawa's saliva, so you all can imagine what that meant... right? Hope you enjoyed it, see you all soon.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings fellow writers and readers, I bring you today a new chapter of Touma's story. This one came faster, so I guess that's nice.
> 
> Enjoy.

**The Gun Shoots Relentlessly: Break_me_not.**

**PART 1**

_'Damn it…'_

Kamijou Touma opened his eyes for the seventh time.

Since last night's disturbing text, the boy had been waking up almost every hour.

And worst of all, this recent time was due to his phone alarm.

_'So much for getting some rest, huh…'_

"Geez... And Yomikawa-sensei's going to get here soon, too."

Legs swung sluggishly out of bed, and after several false starts, he inched his way to the bathroom for a desperately needed cold shower.

**o-0-O-0-o**

"Oh, there you are!"

Kamijou spied to his left, sighting his PE teacher approaching. Currently, he was sat on the sidewalk just outside his dormitory. He had stumbled out onto the pavement just some moments ago, and now Kamijou blearily looked to his sensei, Yomikawa Aiho. He blinked before waving limply.

"I see you didn't bring your school bag… Good… You won't need it," Yomikawa raised one eyebrow. "Aren't you cold? It's always pretty chilly out here by this time."

He shivered: it was 5:13 a.m. and the rising sun had yet to reach this part of the city. But despite the chill, it hadn't been a mistake: Kamijou just felt comfortable with his school shirt and pants.

Besides, he had the feeling he'd appreciate it later.

As before he didn't reply, too tired and too worried about the day's coming trials. He reflected that, despite being told to be ready, he felt as unready as he could imagine anyone being.

"Such a long face… C'mon, cheer up a little. Impossible training is waiting just-for-you," The woman winked at him. "You are going to bleed a lot today, honey!"

"I still can't believe a teacher is saying that," The boy retorted as he stood up. "And don't call me 'honey'."

Yomikawa smiled and leaned towards him, having just realized his somber expression.

"Mm…? You really look tired… How much did you sleep?"

"Not as much as I wanted to…" The boy replied, massaging his neck with a hand.

The woman frowned, leaning even closer, before suddenly grasping his cheeks with both hands. Kamijou was shocked, unsure of her intent.

"S-sensei!? What are you doing?" Kamijou asked, shaking as he tried to loosen her grip, "This is way too weird!"

"Didn't I tell you to sleep 8 hours? Did you even read my message?"

Kamijou moved his eyes from the woman to the ground, no longer trying to get his face out of her grip.

"Yes and… yes…"

The woman glared at him, the distance between their noses shrinking by the second. 

_'If she's trying to intimidate me, all she's managing to do is embarrassing!'_

His eyes darted around, looking for witnesses who might see how awkwardly close he was to kissing to his sensei.

"Your eyes are so red, and those dark circles… You idiot! How are you going to train in that state?" To Kamijou's surprise, the woman shouted painfully into his ears.

Kamijou winced, pulling away to gain some space, however, he stood firm and gazed at her with resolve.

"Whether I'm tired or not, it won't change the fact that I'm doing this," Kamijou raised his chin, his face stoic, causing her to widen her eyes. "You said you trusted me, so I'm going to see this through no matter what. I'm not about to prove Tsukino right about me being a disappointment."

Yomikawa stepped back, apparently not expecting such a straightforward answer.

"But why didn't you sleep if I told you to do it?"

Kamijou scratched his head, recalling his disturbing evening.

_'Should I tell tell her? Maybe she could offer some insight on how to take this message...'_

Then he realized that might prompt her to stay more nights at his dorm, and he quashed that plan immediately.

It would be better to handle this problem by himself. He even had a theory about it. In the last two months, someone had been entering his apartment, moving around his belongings, but nothing was ever stolen except for some food. _'_

_Maybe that creepy message is related to those events… Then again, maybe not…'_

Whatever the case, he'll take care of it himself. He just need to come with an excuse.

"Exams are coming soon, so I decided to study a bit," The only answer he could think of wasn't a good one however. Yomikawa didn't seem to believe him, and he purposefully avoided her annoyed gaze.

"You decided to study the day you were supposed to rest? Of all the days you could have done it, you decided to do it the day before Yui's training?" Yomikawa put one hand on her forehead and sighed, "You're not even going to last the first day if you pull things like this…"

"What are you worried about?" Yomikawa looked at him oddly as he asked easily, "It's not about the individual days, it's just about making it to the end, completing the training, isn't that right?"

She remained silent, so Kamijou went on.

"I told you, I'll see it to the end."

"...But..." She sighed, a hand resting on her hip, "So you're telling me that you're still going to do the training? Despite looking like that?" The woman questioned in obvious disbelief.

"Even if I said I wasn't going to, it wouldn't change anything, right?" Kamijou Touma smirked, putting both hands in his pockets, "So… Why don't we just get a move on?"

The unfortunate teen walked past her, and he heard her chuckle behind him.

"You are, as always, a very interesting person, Touma," Her voice was off, tone somewhat unusual. Kamijou stopped himself from turning around, his instincts telling him to not look back.

"Well, let's do this!" The boy said that somewhat louder than he intended, to cure his unease as he pressed ever onward, "This Kamijou-san won't fail so easily!"

"That's the spirit!" Yomikawa's voice reached his ears as the sound of steps behind the boy told him she finally was moving.

"I guess we'll use your car again, right?" The woman soon caught up to him and nodded. "Alright…"

The unfortunate spiky-haired boy wondered as they walked to Yomikawa's vehicle what exactly he was getting into.

**PART 2**

Like yesterday, the boy was once more waiting outside Tsukino's office while Yomikawa prepared his entry. Apparently, the lieutenant didn't like people entering her office even if they had an appointment. He didn't like what that implied about her intent or her character, but since he was going to be waiting regardless he supposed it didn't matter in the end.

Now that he recalled it, Yomikawa had commented on the drive over that she was one of the few that could actually dare to barge in without getting their ass kicked.

The boy glanced around the hallway, but the receptionist was nowhere to be seen. 

_'What was her name again?'_

The minutes passed, and when it finally turned 6 o'clock, he heard the sounds of steps coming from his right. Soon, the figure of the pretty receptionist came into sight, holding some folders.

_'Actually, scratch that. That's a lot of folders. Inoue, was it?'_

Kamijou stood up quickly and moved up to her, "Let me help you with tha—"

Before she could react, Kamijou reached forward. In the process of doing so however, he grasped the folders, but the back of his hands accidentally brushed her breasts. 

_'Gah! They're bouncy and big!'_

"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean… I mean, I did mean to help you but… Eh… you know what I mean…" The boy sighed, already flinching from the inevitable rage.

"It's fine…" To his surprise, Inoue just flashed a smile and walked past the boy, "You tried to help so I know you didn't do it on purpose.

Kamijou was struck speechless; any other girl would have hit him real hard. _'_

_Like a certain Iron Wall girl…'_

Apparently, despite all his past experiences, there still were girls out there that were reasonable enough to understand that accidents of this sort could occur.

"Put the folders over my desk if you don't mind."

"Sure," Kamijou did what she asked, eyes averted from her, still embarrassed at the softness he had touched.

"So, Kamijou-kun, how are you feeling today? You don't look very good."

After accommodating her request, Kamijou looked at her, but quickly diverted his attention and just massaged the back of his neck instead.

"I'm just a bit tired, but overall… Yeah, I'm fine."

Inoue moved closer to observe him intently, stare moving all over his face, from his chin to his forehead, before finally resting on his eyes. Kamijou felt his nerves ravel, uncomfortable under such a deep scrutiny.

"Are you sure?" The receptionist leaned even closer, causing him to involuntarily step back, bumping into the desk behind him, "You look exhausted, but you also seem a bit nervous."

The boy's gaze darted from left to right as he leaned back, putting both hands on the desk behind him for support. His obvious attempt to gain some space was ignored as Inoue let her body fall on top of him, all her weight pressing against his own.

"Maybe... just maybe, I could help you relax...?" The girl said slowly with a devilish smile.

_'What... what the hell's going on? This isn't good, I mean, it is good... in a way... but this is going to cause so many misunderstandings if someone see us!'_

Just as Inoue's lips were closing in for the kill, a voice echoed in the hallway. The bold girl stopped in her tracks as both she and Kamijou glanced at the source.

"Can you tell me what you both think you're doing?" The central cause of Kamijou's latest misfortunate events asked with a startlingly aggressive voice.

"Yomikawa-san?/Sensei?" Both surprised girl and boy said at the same time, caught in the act.

Yomikawa crossed her arms over her chest, looking quite upset. It was the first time he ever saw his sensei with that kind of expression, and he was shocked at how intimidating her cold stare was.

"Inoue… We've talked about this before," Though momentarily frozen, the secretary stepped away from the confused teen, tsking while she did.

"What are you talking about? What's going...?" Kamijou asked as he turned from his sensei back to Inoue. But the girl simply ignored Yomikawa's sharp gaze and focused her eyes on the folders over the desk. "What is she talking about?"

Inoue merely glanced at him before moving to sit on her desk's chair.

"It's nothing Kamijou-kun, just go start your training," The girl paused before grinning. "I hope everything goes well for you... Don't overdo it, and no matter what happens, don't let Tsukino-san get to you."

Kamijou analysed the not-so-friendly exchange between both females and frowned. There was clearly some kind of tension between the two.

"Let's get going, Touma. Yui will meet with us in the training grounds," The woman motioned for him to follow, but before he did, he waved his farewell to Inoue, much to Yomikawa's apparent annoyance.

Both student and teacher made their way to the parking lot located at the building's rear, but not a single word was spoken during the short trip. He didn't know if he was imagining it, but Yomikawa's aura seemed to be exuding anger, and something else he couldn't put his finger on.

The long walk gave him plenty of time to ponder the question of the story behind Yomikawa and Inoue's apparent hostilities.

Of course, this question would remain unanswered: he barely knew these two individuals and it wasn't his business anyway. What really worried him was that his sensei currently carried animosity within, meaning that she could vent her frustations on the wrong, unfortunate, person. Namely, him.

Such a situation wouldn't do at all.

Yomikawa entered her blue Honda; he had to admit it was a nice ride to say the least, though he wondered how she got that kind of car with a teacher's salary. He could recall that it wasn't that expensive, but it still seemed unreasonably flashy for what he expected.

The boy stood in front of her car, reluctant to enter it.

"What are you waiting for? Get in the car," Yomikawa practically ordered, likely unaware of her threatening tone.

Yomikawa pushed open the passenger door from the inside and urged him in. Even more so than on their first journey to the Anti-Skill Central base. Kamijou was still unconfortable, given that her apparent irritation had yet to dissipate.

"I can take a taxi, sensei, I'll… just see you there," Kamijou had no money for one in all honesty, but a long walk was preferable than dealing with an angry woman. 

Yomikawa's gaze hardened, her countenance even scarier than before.

"Enter. The. Car. It'd be stupid of you to take a taxi when I'm right here," Her voice became more severe, only fuelling Kamijou's desire to leave by himself, "Not to mention that we're supposed to be together when we get there. Why are you making a problem out of this?"

Kamijou remained silent as he searched in his mind for a good excuse, yet in that moment, he couldn't find any. It was like his brain was too terrified to work properly under her intense stare.

"Fine…" Kamijou muttered in resignation as he entered the car, "Geez…"

"What's with that attitude? Why that 'geez'? You never stop complaining, do you?"

"Sensei, I'm not complaining. Let's just go, okay?" Kamijou replied, carefully buckling his seat belt.

Yomikawa straightened her head and looked through the front window, before turning back to eye him some more. A full minute passed in uncomfortable silence.

Finally, Yomikawa started the car, the sound of the engine working, breaking the silence and soothing the tense atmosphere.

The car began to move, and she quickly got them out of the parking lot. All Kamijou did was stare through the window at his left, trying at all costs to engage in any sort of interaction; to piss her off while she was driving would be just too dangerous.

"So I see you get along well with Inoue-san," Yomikawa spoke out of the blue, eyes on the road as if she was acting casual, yet her dry tone overtook her attempt. The mischievous and playful sensei he was used to was nowhere to be seen.

"Um... Not really. I mean, we just met yesterday after all..."

Yomikawa's anger seemed to diminish, if only slightly. Guess he said the right thing then.

_'I don't know what exactly is her problem, but looks like I didn't anger her further. Still, gotta be careful here.'_

The busty woman remained silent for several blocks, but she suddenly spoke again.

"I see… So… Why don't you tell me more about yourself."

She didn't phrase it like a question. The boy lifted an eyebrow, confused at the command out of left field.

"More about me? Like what?" Despite his paranoia, Kamijou couldn't help glancing at her. While her face remained on the road, her eye was tracking him carefully, "And why are you asking me that all of a sudden?"

Yomikawa refocused on driving and turned by a corner.

"Don't know… Just never talked with you really…" The woman paused, taking another bend at the next intersection, "We don't talk much in school. And all we talked about recently was the Graviton stuff and that strange ability of yours."

The boy observed her for a couple of seconds, surprised but releived he didn't sense the anger she exuded before. If she was finally calming down, he didn't want to screw this chance up.

"Hmm… Well… What would you like to know?"

Yomikawa raised her chin in thought.

"Tell me about your parents."

"My parents?" Kamijou recalled about his mother and father, "My mother always gives the vibe of being a very calm woman, but she can be really scary though… More so when dad acts stupidly around other women."

"Really?" A chuckle escaped her lips, "Like father, like son I guess…"

"What? Hey!"

Yomikawa gave him a sympathetic look before focusing on the road again, stopping the car at a set of red lights.

"Tell me more about your dad," Said the woman, putting her arms to rest over the wheel.

Kamijou's mind drifted back to his childhood, gaze moving to the window as he began to feel to melancholic. All those difficult times with kids that hated him, that saw him as some kind of monster, a bringer of disaster.

But his father had always cheered him up, despite how bad things looked whenever his misfortune acted up. When he was feeling down, his father's wise council helped him endure the bad things as they happened, and appreciate the good ones. Of course, his mother helped as well, making him smile no matter the circumstances.

In the end, it was his time with them that made Kamijou Touma the person he was today. He was grateful for the values they had instilled in him: concern about the suffering of others, an inability to stand by and ignore injustice, and a desire to always help everyone find their own happiness. That's how his father and mother raised him, and he would be always be thankful for an outlook that could counter his own ill luck.

Eventually, he settled on a way to express himself, "My dad always tries to do his best in whatever he sets his mind on… Like when he tried to get rid of my bad luck…" Kamijou's voice trailed off as he lowered his gaze towards his right hand, "Even when it seems impossible, he never stops trying…"

The boy couldn't help feeling self-consciously sad at the trouble he put his father through. He glanced at Yomikawa, who sported an odd expression of her own. In a day of unusual moods for her, she was staring at him with gentle eyes. And yet, they were piercing despite their kindness.

"Sensei… the traffic lights changed to green a while ago…" Kamijou informed her lightly, happy to break the mood.

Yomikawa blinked twice before jolting, barely accelerating in time to beat the next red. Neither of them had noticed the horns honking behind them, and though he understood his own distraction, his sensei's came as a mild surprise.

As he dwelled on the problem, Kamijou's discomfort returned, for his educator's cheeks were red. 

_'It's almost like she's embarrassed… Could that be possible? Seriously?'_

"Sensei… I think your face is re—"

"It's not," Yomikawa cut him off almost instantly, but his certainty only grew.

Having chanced one bold question, Kamijou held back on another, suspecting she was pissed again. The edge in her voice was barely noticeable, but it was there. The boy sighed; he had no idea of what was going on Yomikawa's mind, but felt it wise to leave this subject alone. At least for now.

"Then… do you have a girlfriend?" The unexpected question hit him like a slap in the face. He sputtered a moment and then quickly became defensive.

"What? I don't know why you're asking me that, but it's not funny, sensei," Kamijou scowled.

The busty teacher's mysterious blush had long faded, replaced by an amused grin. Even though it was familiar, it bothered him all the more for the matter that prompted it. The subject was a soft spot for the unfortunate teen, and the reason for it was quite simple: He never had one.

"C'mon! Just tell me! Do you have one or not?"

The boy moved his face stiffly forward, keeping his voice emotionless.

"…I don't have one. Now, can we change the subject?" His voice was dry with a hint of bitterness to it. The question about being in a relationship reminded him of the complicated one he held with a certain girl who's face he no longer remembered.

After a few seconds, he looked at her calmly. She returned the favor, but then turned back to the road. The rest of the trip was passed in silence.

**PART 3 (Training Session: 01)**

"So these are the Judgment Training Grounds…? This just looks like a huge schoolyard."

The future member of Judgment, Kamijou Touma, thought his comment innocent enough, but it caused both women at his right side to exchange knowing glances. They ignored him completely, walking into the big field before them, and Kamijou was forced to follow or be left behind.

It was here, in **District 2's Judgment Training Center** , that he would be doing his training for the coming three weeks. He knew from a half-remembered lecture that this was also the place where other prospective Judgment recruits did their 4-month-long based training.

Since he entered the heart of the law enforcement organization's operating District, the boy observed the surprising number of big building complexes, communications towers, and other technical devices. They had boggled his mind, but eventually he gave up any analysis for a more pressing problem.

After a few minutes of walking, the trio came to a large empty field, Kamijou couldn't avoid thinking that something was odd. While he had seen some Anti-Skill members here and there, no student or someone who wore the Judgment armband was present. This was supposed to be the place where new recruits trained before becoming official members of the disciplinary committee, so their absence was strange.

Now standing perfectly centered in the field, Yomikawa turned around to face the teen with a soft smile.

"Well, Touma-kun… As you may have guessed, this is the place where the trainees make their drills," Yomikawa stretched out both arms broadly. "But today, this entire place will be just for your use!"

Kamijou blinked in confusion. "Just for me? What do you mean by that?"

Yomikawa lowered her hands to her hips as her smile shifted into a smirk.

"I guess you noticed that there are no other recruits here," Kamijou nodded, glancing around him quickly. "Tsukino asked for a private session. At least for today."

"Damn those selfish bastards, they gave me only one day…" Tsukino muttered, kicking at the turf.

"You're the selfish one in here. Cancelling all appointments today alongside the training sessions for the other new recruits wasn't necessary. Really, you're impossible," Yomikawa frowned, leaning towards her colleague, "You didn't do this for the other two, so why now?"

Tsukino pulled at a lock of her hair, displaying boredom. The busty woman frowned in annoyance but before she could complain, the younger girl answered.

"I don't want to waste my time unnecessarily, so I'm going to test him. I want to see if he can really complete this training. If I'm not convinced today, then I'll just send him home," The white-haired female replied.

"No one else is going to come here? It'll be just you and… me?" Kamijou gulped, wondering what they could possibly need this entire field for, "I have a bad feeling about this…"

Muttering, Kamijou gave another glance to his surroundings and sighed. He wasn't looking forward to being left alone with Tsukino. It wasn't like she gave him a good impression the first time they met, to the point he didn't even want to see her, let alone train with her.

"Don't worry, Touma-kun. You'll be fine," Kamijou's sensei cast a reassuring smile at him before crossing her arms, "Anyway, I'll see you later for your home classes. Call me if anything comes up."

"Yeah, yeah… Just get the hell out of here already," Tsukino yawned before stretching her arms. Kamijou pointedly avoided staring at her striking figure while she did so, he didn't need Tsukino to label him as a pervert, "This is why I didn't want people around, you're wasting my time."

The busty teacher glared at her fellow comrade, before looking at the teen.

"Whatever, whatever… Just… Take care Touma-kun, and don't falter. This training will be hard, but I just know you can do it…" The woman paused before smiling weakly, "I'd actually have preferred you to take the usual training but you seem to be in a rush for doing this and I have seen of what you're capable of. Your will to protect is strong; you're the kind of person Judgment needs."

The unfortunate boy was startled by the faith those words expressed.

But where others might have balked, Kamijou felt resolve taking shape within him. While Yomikawa loved teasing him, he knew that was just the playful part of her personality, and Kamijou truly felt they were much alike. After all, this woman also wanted to protect people. As he narrowed his eyes, he thought that was all he needed to succeed.

"Just… Don't let Tsukino break you, because she's going to try to do that until this is over."

"Tch… He didn't need that warning… And you're talking like he's going to survive the day," Now that she crossed her arms so petulantly, Touma found it hard to treat her like an adult. Her slender physique did nothing to help her case, and he sighed as he discovered another female confusing him.

Kamijou ignored her words and directed his eyes to the reason he was here, his unexpectedly trusting sensei.

"I said this before. I will see this through no matter what comes at me," Kamijou Touma spoke with purpose.

Yomikawa widened her eyes slightly in surprise while Tsukino just raised an eyebrow at his bold promise. Even if Yomikawa would never know, her trust in him was another reason he wouldn't fail.

_'No… She's giving me a reason why I can NOT fail. Let's show this Tsukino that sensei is right.'_

"A-alright…" Yomikawa looked thoughtful, putting one hand on her chest as her eyes darted from one side to the other, while Tsukino visibly frowned, and the pouted. _'"_ I'll see you later then..."

_'Those aren't the reactions I expected.'_

Kamijou barely managed to make out her last words, she was so quiet.

However, even after Yomikawa said that, she looked reluctant to leave. Kamijou gave her a reassuring smile and she nodded in response before she finally turned to the exit. Yet she cast one last glance at him as she walked away.

Honestly, he didn't really know what to think of her. Older women were indeed more of a mystery than girls his age.

"Finally… We're alone," The voice of Tsukino called the boy's attention. "Now we can begin."

Kamijou lowered his head a bit to stare at her intently, readying himself for whatever she was going to come up with.

Suddenly he was staring down the barrel of a pistol.

Tsukino had pulled it from the thigh strap holder attached to her right leg, and pointed it at his face. Kamijou's eyes widened in shock. In a fraction of a second the woman fired the weapon, although he managed to move his head a bit by sheer instinct while she pulled the trigger.

The bullet passed mere inches away from his left cheek and impacted on the far wall behind him.

"Hoh… Not bad, boy," The mad law enforcer commented, sounding somewhat amused. "The other two disappointments didn't even move."

"What!?" Shock and anger warred on his face.

"Why are you like that? I just complimented you," Kamijou's glare intensified. "I was testing your reflexes, and I have to admit I'm pretty surprised. You dodge pretty well, although I only aimed it to just graze your cheek."

"Are you insane!? Something like that out of the blue..." The boy looked where the bullet impacted but then rolled his eyes, meeting her gaze again, "What if I moved my head to the other side? You could have killed me!"

"Yeah… It could have happened. Just be glad it didn't."

_'I can't believe this psycho! How the hell is this training!?'_

"Now, I want to see how many laps you can run on this field," She crossed her arms. "Begin!"

"For what? Testing my endurance? Or are you going to shoot at me as I go?" The boy sighed, annoyed at how grateful he was for the relatively normal task.

_'Is this training really going to help me improve? Make me more capable? Or is it just going to kill me? Inoue-san wasn't joking.'_

Kamijou knew he didn't have much of a choice, so he braced himself to endure it. More than happy to get away from her, he set off to the track.

One lap was done, then the second, and the third and so on.

Time passed as the boy continued to run while Tsukino reclined on a chair that she seemingly brought from somewhere while he was on his second lap. The boy finally reached the seventh lap and noticed he had lost his audience. Instead she was playing with her cell.

Still, he kept running.

More time passed as the fatigue set in. He couldn't really remember what lap he was on any more; he felt his limbs grow heavy and the sweat drip down his neck.

Still, he kept running.

The supposed legend of Anti-Skill wasn't even glancing at him, now with headphones on her ears. Kamijou was almost distracted from his exhaustion at how stupid he felt going on like this. _'_

_If she's not going to look, I might as well stop.'_

And yet.

He kept running.

The boy wondered why, but suddenly the simplest of answers came to his mind.

He wanted to show that rotten white-haired young woman that he was no pushover, that he wasn't a disappointment, that he wasn't a waste of time. He had people that trusted him, he couldn't allow himself to stop, he just couldn't and he wouldn't.

With determination clear on his face, newfound energy emerged, and Kamijou smirked.

He wiped the sweat of his forehead with his right hand and kept running.

And then he picked up the pace.

The boy stopped paying attention to his surroundings, his mind only focusing on his feet and the task of running.

He had no idea how much time passed as he kept circling the field, and he didn't care. He felt light, at ease, free... certainly an unusual feeling.

Still, the boy kept running as if nothing else mattered.

"What the hell…?" A faint voice reached his ears, making Kamijou finally come to a halt, "How much more are you going to run!? It's been three hours already!

Kamijou looked confused, slowly twisting his neck. _'_

_Did she just say three hours…? Seriously?'_

"How did you manage…?" Tsukino's surprise was etched in her voice. She kept glancing between him and the stopwatch in her hand.

"Three hours…? Are you serious!?" To him, it felt like just half an hour had passed, "Why didn't you tell me anything?"

"Does that even matter? You've been running nonstop for three hours!" She walked up to him, still sporting her shocked expression, "And you don't even seem tired…"

She was wrong, though she inspected him all over. Truly, he was exhausted. Although he was just panting slightly, he was totally drained. It's like all that energy he had before had drained the moment she caught his attention and lost focus.

"I… I'm beat…" Kamijou let his body relax as he slumped to the ground.

Tsukino observed him with an intense frown but Kamijou just shrugged it off. He felt like sleeping on the floor and at this rate, it didn't sound like a bad idea.

"Hey! Don't get all tired! This is where I wanted to get; now the training will truly begin."

Exasperation spread across his face, but he wondered what she meant by that. Three hours had already passed, and what were those laps for if it wasn't part of the training?

"I can't move… I need to rest a bit," Kamijou said between pants.

"No. Get up!" Tsukino unexpectedly shouted. "You have to get up!"

Kamijou sighed, what was this woman/girl trying to accomplish? The only thing he could do was to try to obey; after all, she was the one training him. Using his arms to support himself, he stood up. Slowly but surely he did.

"Damn it…" The boy muttered, looking at her tiredly.

Tsukino's gaze tightened, putting one hand on her hip, as Kamijou tried his best to keep himself standing.

"That's more like it… Very well then, try to hit me."

Kamijou blinked twice, giving her a blank stare.

"What…?"

"Hit me," She repeated, to his bewilderment. Kamijou had thought he heard wrong but he apparently didn't.

"Okay…" He shrugged his shoulders while panting slightly, gaze weary, yet focused. "Now I'm gonna ask you why, and you're going to have to give me a valid answer, because I'm seriously contemplating the thought of ignoring that ridiculous request."

"It's not a ridiculous request. I assure you that I'm far from wanting to get hit," She replied nonchalantly, "I just want to see something."

"Something?" He made a thoughtful expression, somewhat cocky, "So you want to test how I fight when I'm tired? Fine, it's not like I have any strength left in me anyway."

A sly smile spread through Tsukino's face. It lit her golden eyes brightly, but it may have been from the sun.

"Correct, I want to see how you fare when you're not at your best. Looks like you are slightly better than the other two failures for now."

Kamijou massaged the back of his neck, now looking more bored than tired. "I'm totally worn out just so you know."

"I don't think so… I just saw you running for three hours non-stop, besides…" She raised a hand at him in a challenging manner, "I want to see what you can do in that state."

Kamijou sighed.

_'How many times had I sighed in the last few days? Too many to count, that's for sure. And yeah…? That's exactly why I'm beat. Oh well…'_

After breathing deeply, his steeled himself for yet another trial. He took a few steps towards her after deliberating what he should do.

"I guess you are serious about this…" Said Kamijou, ready to engage, "I'll give it my best shot but don't expect much."

Tsukino smirked, "No worries, I'm not expecting anything impressive anyways."

He couldn't help snorting at the answer, "Alright then… If that's what you want…" Kamijou stood just in front of her, Tsukino's smirk not wavering, "I guess I'll have to do it."

Gathering what strength he still had in his body, he delivered a quick jab at her head, but it didn't land, just like the boy expected. After all, she was a legend in Anti-Skill while he was only a normal student who ran away from most fights. Tsukino stepped to the side, easily avoiding it.

"That was way too slow, try again."

"Did you forget I said that I'm totally worn out?" He questioned, "This is the best I can manage right now."

It indeed was, even standing still was a pain for his muscles. She didn't seem to care though.

"Do as I say. I don't want to hear more excuses," Tsukino's tone became stern, but he didn't really give a damn at her displeasure.

Kamijou just sighed as he looked at the sky with a blank expression, finally accepting that today's goal was to accomplish the impossible; land a hit on a famous Anti-Skill agent while being totally drained.

_'Today was going to be worse than the last two, isn't it?'_

**PART 4**

"We're finally here," A certain blue-haired woman whispered to the pale boy hanging from her left shoulder, "Could you at least try to move your legs? You're not light, you know?"

The boy didn't respond, but did try to unsuccessfully walk on his own. The moment he took a step he fell to the floor, his legs unable to support his own weight.

"Hey Touma, are you all right?" Yomikawa asked, sounding concerned as she kneeled down to help him to his feet.

"I'm a total wreck…" Kamijou's voice was barely audible.

"Let's just get you to your bed, at least."

The woman lifted the boy over to bed and Kamijou fell like a sack of bricks, still panting. He couldn't move at all, his whole body was an aching wreck. What's worse, he could still see Tsukino's cocky smile when Yomikawa had appeared to pick him up from what he dubbed, the ' **Hell Grounds** '.

"Can you talk now? You passed out twice in the car," Yomikawa sat on the bed, "What happened with you? I couldn't ask Yui when I saw you on the floor all beaten up, but I should have just taken you to the hospital."

"…" Kamijou tried to move but failed to do it. "I… told you… I…"

"Don't force yourself."

Still… the boy continued.

"I… Just need to rest… That's all I need…" Kamijou's eyes met Yomikawa's awfully concerned expression. It was more than a little depressing.

"No, you're a total mess… What kind of teacher lets her students get beaten up to this extent?" The worried woman sighed, and then leaned towards the tired teen, putting a hand on his right cheek, "But why? I know you're tougher than the two before you, and still, they manage to return home by themselves on the first day, but you… Tsukino really outdid herself this time…"

That was an undeniable truth.

**o-0-O-0-o**

_As Kamijou tried and failed to land a hit on the white-haired woman during the training, the monstrous female began to counterattack. It felt like she was trying to break every bone in his body, but thankfully —despite the pain— he had been spared that much._

_The hours passed as Kamijou stood up to his feet multiple times, only to be thrown back down over and over. And try as he might, he failed to even land a single hit on his opponent, at first he could block some of the more straightforward strikes but as time went on, he was gradually being worn down._

_The physical punishment was bad enough, but she also kept taunting the impotent teen, making fun of his vulnerability with the same three words._

_"You are weak."_

_And the worst part was, despite how much he hated admitting it, she was right. The breaking point occurred soon after she asked him one simple question._

_"Why are you here really? What do you want to prove? Why don't you just quit? I assure you this will get worse, a whole lot worse."_

_In truth, it was three questions and a warning._

_"I am here to become a member of Judgment," Kamijou replied, "Recently I've had it made clear to me that becoming one will let me help and protect people. For that I won't quit, whether this gets harder or not. I refuse to do so."_

_The girl looked amused, examining the boy from top to bottom as she stepped forward._

_"Hoh… why do you want to protect people then? Because you're 'good'? Because you want to be a 'Hero'?" A chuckle escaped the girl's lips and a dark expression covered her face, "Or… you want to impress someone? Is that it?"_

_Kamijou glared, her questions getting on his nerves. He didn't like what she was trying to imply by this line of reasoning._

_"I just want to help people, and I don't need some grand reason to do it…" Kamijou growled darkly._

_"Really…?" Tsukino leaned towards him as she crossed her arms, "I don't believe you. There must be something you want in exchange for this. Everyone wants something; don't think you're someone special, who only needs to see everyone safe and sound. There is no such thing as that. Heroes. Don't. Exist."_

_Kamijou raised an eyebrow in annoyance, unconsciously dropping his stance. Yet he stood firmly behind his principles, despite this legend of Anti-Skill. Many times people had questioned his actions, found him absurd in his dedication, people who couldn't believe in true kindness. He always wondered why, and especially did so now with Tsukino. How could she not believe in good will? How could people question them when they occurred in front of their eyes?_

_Despite his frustration, he felt too tired to argue, "I don't expect you to believe me or to accept my reasoning, but this is how things work for me."_

_"You must have done something really bad in the past then, and you just want to atone for those mistakes."_

_The boy rolled his eyes. She was, without a doubt, a clear example of how people choose to deny the existence of selflessness and kindness in the world._

_"We're not going anywhere with this. I suggest we drop the subject."_

_"Yes, we should. We both know you are lying to me and to yourself anyway," A mocking expression painted her features as she continued. "No matter how many times you say otherwise, I won't believe it and you simply won't accept it."_

_"Lying to myself?"_

_"Yes… lying to yourself," Tsukino paused and crossed her arms, looking now quite bothered. "I can't really tell why exactly, but I'm sure there is something deep inside you that makes you have that kind of thinking."_

_Kamijou didn't respond, carefully choosing his next words. But in the end, nothing came out._

_Because he realized that in a way, she was right. There was something that motivated him besides the drive of protecting people, that made him think in the way he did._

_It was his misfortune._

_Ever since he was born, unfortunate events occurred in his life on a daily basis. His parents were forced to deal with the consequences, which they overcame no matter how absurd or difficult some problems turned out to be._

_It was not until he was old enough to discern right from wrong that it truly hit him. To acknowledge that he would never have a normal life thanks to the curse that brought despair, as some people called it, it was depressing to say the least._

_Nevertheless, he endured it with his family's help, even though it didn't always come in helpful ways. Like how his house had become a holy sanctuary with the many charms and souvenirs his father, **Kamijou Touya** , got from different countries. Supposedly they would eliminate Kamijou's bad luck, but it hadn't worked so far._

_He knew his father hadn't given up on his son yet, nor his misfortune, and the fact that he was trying was something that meant everything to the boy._

_Yet in the end, his bad luck allowed Kamijou to understand the suffering of other people. Their desperation when someone wanted to hurt them, their fear of evil and the impotence of not being able to protect those who were important to them. Not to mention the depression of being rejected by almost everyone he met during his youth for being the so-called **Child of Misfortune**._

_He had experienced it all, and knew that pain. That's why he fought to protect, to stop those who only sought to hurt, and if his actions brought even a little bit of happiness to others, then it was all worth it._

_Yes. He indeed had a reason for doing it. And he hated to admit that Tsukino was right._

_"Too much thinking, huh…?" The white-haired girl interrupted his train of thought when she spoke. "I guess I was correct after all."_

_Kamijou didn't respond and avoided her gaze._

_"Well… we wasted a lot of time in this meaningless conversation. Let's just continue, shall we?"_

_It was almost funny to hear her say meaningless when she was the one who started it but Kamijou could only nod._

_"You are stronger than most, I'll give you that, and your will is solid but… if you want to truly change things, to be capable of protecting those who are important to you, then it's not enough," She spun around but turned her face a bit, her only visible golden eye directed at him, "Get stronger, risk your life for what you believe in without faltering, strengthen your determination to the point of it being unbreakable, and I'm sure that you'll achieve every single one of your goals. It just depends on you."_

_Tsukino's speech left the boy thoughtful. Every single word spoken by the golden-eyed girl was true and there was no denying it. After today she made it clear as crystal; he wasn't strong enough. All he had done so far was to intervene every time when he saw delinquents intimidating or attacking people, robbing them or trying to hit on unlucky girls. This usually led to brawls or chases, sometimes both, but that was all he could do._

_The truth was that he could 't handle more than three people at a time, even in the best circumstances. That might not be bad, but someday it would be his end if he kept confronting every criminal in the city. And he had learned today that when he was exhausted, far past his limits, he was next to useless._

_Honestly speaking, the confrontation with the group of thugs two days ago was the only notable feat he ever had accomplished. Because he actually accomplished something more than just saving people, he stopped a real threat to the safety of others. He still had no idea why they needed components from a lab, but knew it would be for ill purposes. In the end, not only had he saved people but also stopped further violence._

_Maybe joining Judgment would be a good thing; maybe he'd be able to do more than just stopping random thugs._

_Could this be his chance to become a real force of good? To become someone like the people he admired? To become a hero?_

_Honestly, that didn't matter to him._

_So, after nodding, the first day of the training of hell continued._

**o-0-O-0-o**

"Yeah… she may have overdone it a bit, but… I don't think she was wrong about anything she did."

' _Well, maybe except the part where she shot at me..._ '

Kamijou Touma's voice echoed weakly in the silent dorm. His sensei could barely hear him as she clutched his covers sharply.

**PART 5**

He didn't know when, but at some point he must have fallen asleep. Kamijou blinked at the light invading his bedroom through the balcony door. It was **The Dawn of a New Day**. [1]

"Agh... I can't move…"

He shifted, feeling the grime of his dirty and torn uniform. He hadn't moved since he had been looking up at his sensei's face the night before.

"What time is it…?"

Kamijou tried to move his body again, only succeeding with his head.

The teen turned his face to his left and—

Never his gaze was completely positioned before he was forced to throw himself out of bed.

"Gah!" Kamijou screamed in pain from both the fall and his aching joints. Yet he managed to pull himself up enough to confirm that he had indeed been sharing his bed with the woman yet again.

"Argh! Damn it!" Kamijou shouted, and the sleeping Yomikawa stirred before blinking alertly. She too hadn't changed her clothes from yesterday.

"What's going on?" The woman blearily asked as she leaned over his mattress, "Why are you on the floor?"

"…Well sensei, what can I say? I thought the floor would be a better spot to rest, but I guess I was wrong!" The boy replied sarcastically as he managed to sit upright.

Yomikawa leaned to the edge of the bed, smiling.

"I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

Kamijou was startled by the softness in her voice, and made him more than a little nervous. Though that may have been from the way her large breasts were being pressed against the covers of his bed, the thin white fabric of her t-shirt doing nothing to hide their form.

' _Don't just look at her chest, Kamijou-san! You're better than that.'_

A sigh escaped his lips, "I'm not feeling better…" He muttered, averting his gaze.

"I'm going to give Tsukino a call, you need to rest today so I'll tell her to continue with your training tomorrow…" The woman paused before looking expectant, "That is, if you decide to continue it…"

Kamijou shook his head, putting a lot of effort into slowly standing up; Kamijou couldn't stifle a yawn before giving her a serious look.

"Don't. I'm not planning on quitting," His stern tone made Yomikawa blink in surprise, "And I won't miss today's training either.

"I expected that first answer, but you really do need to rest," The busty woman sat on the bed crossing her legs and arms, "You can resume it tomorr—"

"No," Kamijou interrupted her, giving a definitive answer.

"No?" Her blinking eyes widened.

"No."

The boy was firmly resolved to go no matter what his sensei said. Despite the pain of his aching bones, he couldn't back down, no matter if it would be reckless. Tsukino's challenge was fresh in his mind, and despite his exhaustion, he wasn't going to allow himself to waste time.

"…O-Okay. I…I'll take you there," She looked anxious, "We still have one hour…"

The unfortunate teen just nodded.

**PART 6 (Training Session: 02)**

"I have to admit, I'm surprised to see you here, Kamijou-kun," The girl called Tsukino Yui commented, wearing both the same amused expression and the same black uniform with golden edges. The glasses she wore back at her office were still missing, and so she still looked more like a teen than the woman she seemed to pose as.

A boy who barely stood unassisted in the middle of a large field shrugged.

"Why are you surprised? You don't know me. So how could you be sure I wasn't going to come?" Kamijou questioned the woman, sporting a serious face.

The white-haired girl narrowed her eyes, but then snorted and smiled lightly, "You got a point."

The boy put both hands in his pockets, shuffling awkwardly, "This place looks as empty as yesterday. Where is everyone?"

Tsukino smirked, "I managed to convince Oldie Monaka-chan so we'll have this place for us for a few days."

"You talked to Oyafune Monaka about this? I can't believe it!" Yomikawa exclaimed, clearly shocked.

_'Oyafune Monaka… Who's that?'_

"Oh please, don't make it such a big deal. What's done is done, so don't complain," The girl glanced at Kamijou, "I suppose you rested a lot for today. Let's begi—"

Yomikawa sighed, putting both hands on her hip and prompting Tsukino to stop. The busty woman hadn't really said anything during the trip there, which was odd enough, and she didn't even seem upset like yesterday. Instead, the woman kept her gaze focused on the road all the time, not even turning to look at him when the traffic lights were red.

"What's wrong Aiho? Why show that kind face? He's the one doing the training, you know?" Tsukino walked to the woman, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Yomikawa glared at her for some reason.

"You're insane, Yui, but I can't stop this now…" Yomikawa brusquely pulled Tsukino's hand from her shoulder, "I didn't have the chance to talk to you yesterday. Can you give me a minute before you start the training?"

"Why yes… Whatever could it be?" The girl asked with a playful lilt.

"Just come with me," Said Yomikawa with annoyance before glancing at the unfortunate teen. "Wait just a bit, ok?"

Before Kamijou could nod or say yes, the young legend of Anti-Skill spoke.

"Fifty laps… Run fifty laps and we'll start today's training session."

_'Fifty laps? Is she serious?'_

Even if the boy was at full capacity, that many would be exhausting on a normal field. On such a large training field, it was sheer madness.

"He isn't in the condition to do it," To his surprise, Yomikawa spoke up on his behalf. "Can't you be a bit softer with him?"

"Nope," The girl responded simply as she began to walk away.

Kamijou let out an exasperated sigh as Yomikawa folded her arms, but her anger was ignored as Tsukino strolled away, enjoying the passage of the clouds in the sky.

"Fine, fine… I'll do it…"

Still facing away, Tsukino nodded at Kamijou's admission before turning to the other Anti-Skill member. Before he could run to his trial, Kamijou felt a tense atmosphere settle between the two colleagues as they exchanged glares.

"Don't hurt yourself, Touma-kun," Yomikawa advised as she turned around and walked away, followed by the gold-eyed girl, who only smiled slyly.

_'What's up with those two? This almost feels like the same thing I sensed when Inoue... Well, let's change the topic, these laps aren't going to run themselves!'_

Shrugging off the matter, Kamijou set himself to the task at hand, and so he took the first step forward.

**o-0-O-0-o**

A certain spiky haired boy was lying on the ground on the freshly shorn lawn, panting heavily and sweating like a pig. But he grinned regardless because he had succeeded, despite the pain and fatigue.

He had run every step though he could just have cheated: he hadn't seen either the girl or the woman since they left for their talk.

But Kamijou appreciated the break, feeling he deserved it after such a difficult task. Though he would have liked to find a better spot to do it, the hard ground beneath the glaring sun was still better than nothing.

The teen had no idea how much time passed since they left, or even since he had finished running, but it couldn't have been that long. Since worrying wouldn't change that, he let his mind wander.

It was the first time in the last few days that he had the chance to gather his thoughts about everything happening around him. Like how he had gotten into this kind of training in the first place, had met someone as frustrating as Tsukino Yui, came to know Yomikawa Aiho more intimately, the fight with the thugs. Even the little things came to mind. His run in with the Tokiwadai trio, the odd experience in that maid café, that unknown girl in his school's bathroom and Fukiyose.

Fukiyose. He had to admit, her friendship was the only completely positive thing that came out of the whole ordeal. It felt better than he had expected to have someone accept his way of living, to even be proud of him and his beliefs. He was grateful for the joy that brought him.

Kamijou never thought that he would find in her the moral support he desperately needed to keep going. Many times before and even more now he had questioned himself, and had questioned his own actions, wondering if he was actually achieving something. But her words had truly reached him and made him more determined than ever to achieve his goals. No obstacle would stop him.

Inoue was also a nice experience... and a wild one too.

Now back from his train of thought, Kamijou found himself enjoying the sudden bit of shade as if it were a sign of approval from above.

"How long are you going to lie there?"

Kamijou blinked. Someone was standing over him. His eyes couldn't make out who it was, still blinded by his short-sighted staring contest with the sun, yet he made an educated guess.

"T-Tsukino-san?" The silhouette his eyes made out told him it wasn't his sensei, and the short hair also gave him the hint.

"Who else would I be?" The figure of Tsukino became a bit clearer, he blinked again and unexpectedly, the girl extended her hand to him, "C'mon, get up."

The boy was startled. Few seconds passed before he reluctantly accepted the gesture and grabbed her hand. She pulled the teen upward, allowing him to stand on his feet again.

"I guess you completed all the laps, although you don't really look tired," She commented as she put one hand on her hip, "Your stamina is greater than I imagined."

"…I guess… Though I am thirsty," While he ended completely exhausted after finishing fifty laps, the 15 minutes or more really did a good job giving him back some energy, "But how did you know…?"

"There're cameras all around the facility, and this field is no exception," Kamijou glanced around but he couldn't tell where they could be, "Don't bother, you'll never find them."

The teen made a bemused expression before shrugging his shoulders; finding them didn't really matter to him anyway.

"Here, catch," The teen turned in time to raise his hand and catch a cold can that Yomikawa tossed.

"Oh, yeah! I needed this!" Kamijou snapped open the drink, enjoying its coolness as he drank every drop without even glancing at the label.

It was heavenly: he had never appreciated melon soda quite like he did today.

_'Maybe when I open my eyes, I'll be kissing a cute girl, hahaha… Oh, the things that I think…'_ [2]

The thought reminded him of a manga he read last week. It had an original but absurd plot. He didn't know why it suddenly came to mind, probably the melon soda. 

Kamijou's inner monologue ended when he opened his eyes. Tsukino was staring at him, and Yomikawa was clearly startled.

"That was way faster than I expected…" The busty sensei commented, rather amused while the other chick just continued her, now creepy, stare.

"I thought the first time I tested it… Well, fine. I admit it," Tsukino crossed her arms, looking at him with mild… interest or… who knows what, "Aiho was right, you truly ARE something else…"

Kamijou felt he was missing something, "What are you two talking about?"

Yomikawa and Tsukino exchanged looks before chuckling. He had no idea why, but he was glad they weren't arguing: their talk must have gone well.

"It doesn't really matter, right Aiho?"

"Yep Yui, not important."

The boy frowned. These two were obviously hiding something from him, and he doubted it was good.

"Fine, fine… whatever," Kamijou yawned, feigning disinterest.

"Well, I'm leaving, Touma," Kamijou turned to his sensei, "I hope this time you're conscious enough to take your night classes. Let me tell you, Komoe was really disappointed yesterday when I told her that there wouldn't be personal classes with her 'favourite student,' Kamijou-chan."

"It doesn't really depend on me," The boy gave a slight glance at Tsukino, making her raise an eyebrow.

"Well yeah, it does idiot."

Kamijou let out a hearty laugh, at the cost of his already sore rib-cage. Yomikawa just chuckled at it.

"What's so funny? Hey! Tell me the joke, would you?" Tsukino pouted, a surprisingly cute twist on her lips.

Her unexpectedly childish reaction made it all the funnier. Though his amusement wasn't enough to overcome the intense bitterness the girl evoked in him, he wasn't willing to let it ruin everything good in his life. So he laughed, and laughed all the harder when his sensei joined in.

After they had both recovered, Yomikawa finally said her goodbyes to Kamijou and her partner, leaving shortly after.

"Yesterday I tested your endurance and stamina, today I… Will just inform you how Judgment works and all that boring stuff," Tsukino winked at him. "Although there may be some time to test your reflexes a bit more."

That was even more unexpected than her sudden attitude swings, and he wondered if this was the result of her conversation with Yomikawa. Either way, he would deal with whatever 'testing his reflexes again' actually meant.

"You're the boss," Kamijou simply said.

With that, the second day of training began. The boy was tired, and hoped he wouldn't fall asleep mid-game as the girl began her lecture.

**PART 7**

"Of course, the one day there is a good sale is the day that I can't afford any of them," A spiky-haired teen sighed wearily as he contemplated the amazingly low groceries prices through the store's front window, "Fukou da..."

Kamijou averted his eyes from temptation and continued walking despite the pain.

As the boy headed home, he glanced around the city. People of varied ages, mostly students, walked through the streets without a care in world, no troubles at all, chatting casually and laughing.

And then there was him.

"Man… this really sucks…"

The teen wasn't as tired as yesterday, and his body didn't ache all that much, but he was still a mess and that crazy girl was to blame.

After explaining the rules that he needed to respect, and the duties he had to fulfil as an official Judgment agent, she had indeed used the rest of the training session to test his reflexes.

She found it highly entraining. He found it highly insane.

_Kamijou stood in the middle of the training field, trying to figure why the woman had ordered some men to come over. They had set up four pitching machines, positioned around the boy. All pointing at him in a worrying fashion._

_It soon became clear why._

_"Are you serious? This is how you are going to test my reflexes?" Kamijou asked, dreading the obvious answer._

_"Yep, I want to see how many balls you can dodge," Tsukino threw a green ball she had plucked from one of the machines straight up the sky and closed her eyes._

_Kamijou watched the ball reach an impressive height, but gravity inevitably won out. Tsukino took two steps forward and one step right, and with eyes still closed, she caught the ball. Despite himself, the boy was impressed._

_The white-haired girl opened her eyes and smirked at his awed expression, "See? If you train hard, you will be able to do this kind of things with ease; my reflexes are keen because of my own training,"_

_Kamijou blinked confusedly, putting one hand on his chin as in lost in thought._

_"But… That feat you just pulled… Was that really your reflexes? I mean, I remember Komoe-sensei saying that a reflex was a nearly instantaneous movement in response to some kind of stimulus…"_

_Her confident grin twitched, "Eh?"_

_"I think that… What you actually did was predict where the ball was going to fall," Kamijou cleared his throat before continuing his explanation. "I guess you've done that trick before, so you're pretty familiar with how hard you throw, and then it's just gauging the wind, right?"_

_Tsukino looked at the teen blankly, "That was unexpectedly deductive…" Finally, she admitted, "But my point still stands! You have to train harder!"_

_"I know that already," The boy muttered, "Let's just get this over with."_

_Tsukino smiled darkly._

_"Dodging these balls coming at you from all directions is going to improve your speed and reflexes. Of course, it will only work if you manage to avoid them. I guess even if you fail, at least you'll raise up your pain tolerance."_

_Kamijou nodded, sighing internally as he braced for impact._

Thinking back, he was no longer wondering why the other two guys gave up so fast. Today's scheme was just as crazy as yesterday, but it wasn't going to be enough to make him falter. He had enough drive in him to keep going, no matter how his body ached, or how much his temper flared.

During the training today, Tsukino had been as insufferable as ever. He was beginning to worry that it wasn't his physical limits that would fail him, but his mental ones as he endured her unceasing abuse.

It took longer than usual to reach his dorm, his mood not improved in the slightest. For despite having spent all day in training, he was now heading not to rest, but to an evening of studying.

Kamijou took the elevator up, but when he stepped out of it, a surprise was waiting for him in the hallway just before his door.

"So there you are."

His exhausted mind took several seconds to piece together a response, "Fukiyose? What are you doing here?"

The girl in question was wearing her summer school uniform and more importantly, an upset look. Considering the current time, she must have come directly from school.

"What did Komoe-sensei mean by 'you not coming to school for three weeks'?" The girl leaned forward, putting her hands on her hip. There was more than a trace of anger in her voice.

"No 'hello', huh...?" Kamijou averted his eyes to the side, tilting his head a bit, "Well… Actually, I'm apparently not coming back for some time."

The busty girl narrowed her eyes, arms sternly crossed over her chest.

"Why do you keep trying to fool me, Kamijou?" But her tone turned gloomy, and he felt his heart twinge. It was an expression he didn't like much on her normally lively face, "You know you can trust me, right?"

The boy looked at the ground, her weak smile gently fading as her concern sunk home. He had underestimated yet again how strong their sudden friendship had become.

"I'm sorry… It's just…" Kamijou paused and rubbed his forehead, "It's just… that I didn't want to worry you with my problems."

Fukiyose frowned, but then gave him a reassuring smile.

"You fool… Don't you think I'll get more worried if you don't tell me anything? And what are friends for anyway, if not to support each other?"

Her wise words opened up his eyes, and Kamijou smiled in admiration. She wasn't just considerate of him, but truly thoughtful in general. He tried again to understand how close he felt to her just now, and was surprised at his feeling's depth.

"…I have nothing to say to that," Kamijou said with a playful tone, chuckling.

"Actually, you can start by answering my question," Fukiyose said flatly, eliciting another chuckle.

"Yes, I can do that…" Kamijou cleared his throat. "I have to take some training that happens to be during the day. It's obligatory, so if I want to become a real member of Judgment, I have no choice."

"But why? I know of some people that joined Judgment without missing school, why would it be any different with you?" Fukiyose tilted her head a bit to the left, looking expectant. "A friend told me her training was after school… Are you… are you still lying to me?"

This would be the first time Kamijou would see puppy eyes on the Iron Wall Girl, and it disarmed all his metal defences instantly.

"I-I'm not lying!" Kamijou shouted nervously, which made Fukiyose slightly flinch, "The usual training for volunteers lasts 4 months, time I can't afford to take because I won't be able to help anyone before then…"

Suddenly, a sad expression played across his face, one that Fukiyose noticed quickly.

"What's wrong?" Her worried tone was clear.

Kamijou chuckled yet again, turning to the side while supporting his arms on the low wall, his tired eyes lost on the cityscape, "Lately, I've been thinking."

"That's a change."

"Excuse me. I mean a lot more than normal. And, well…" The boy sighed, "All the times I repeated to myself that I'm helping people, that I'm protecting them... I'm no longer really sure any more if I'm doing any good; if I'm doing the right thing. Everyone I met said I'm just being stupid or childish. Maybe they're right. Maybe I'm just lying to myself, just giving excuses to fool myself, justify my own way of doing things…" Kamijou glanced at the girl staring at him in silence.

To his surprise, Fukiyose smiled brightly.

"Don't you dare doubt yourself, Kamijou. I believe in you and I do believe you're doing the right thing."

Kamijou fell silent, himself now, unsure of what to say.

"Thanks…" Boy and girl simply stared at each other for a moment.

Kamijou blinked, noting how beautiful she lokked with the sunset light. His hearting began to race and he found himself lost within her eyes.

He began to feel tempted to say, or do something stupid. His gaze dropped for a moment —embarrased at the situation— before he hesitantly moved closer to the girl. 

Fukiyose frowned, making him stop. Her eyes averted to the side for some seconds but unexpectedly, they returned to watch him again, glinting slightly as she met his gaze steadily. What was she trying to wordlessly say?

Kamijou gulped, nerves suddenly strained to breaking, heart racing faster. The boy had no idea what was going on but all he could think of was to get closer to her, to embrace her, to look at her directly in the eyes… to kiss… to k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k—

A piercing pain shot through his left leg; Kamijou stumbled back and knelt down. Fukiyose rushed close and knelt as well, putting a hand on his back.

"Kamijou!? What's wrong?" A concerned Fukiyose asked.

The boy grabbed his leg, the pain was unbearable; like he was being sliced into. Right where his pocket was.

Fukiyose kept worriedly shouting, but he ignored her as he reached inside. He grasped only his vibrating cell, and upon his touch the piercing pain transferred to his hand. Reflexively he pulled it out and tossed it aside, and it clattered down the hall.

Sweat fell from his forehead as he sighed, agitated but relieved the pain was gone. 

_'What the hell was that!? That pain... why the hell did my own phone...? Was that even possible?'_

"What happened, Kamijou?"

The boy turned to the worried girl at his side.

"I… I don't know," He replied truthfully, wiping the sweat from his forehead, "My leg began to hurt all of a sudden... I think it was because of my phone."

"Your cell phone? Is that why you threw it?" She was obviously startled, "What kind of phone does that?"

Both teens observed the little device still vibrating on the hallway floor. Kamijou was shocked, the only explanation coming to him was that this phenomenon was caused by an esper. After all, he had yet to touch the device with the Imagine breaker, so there was the possibility.

"This is just too strange…" The girl helped him get on his feet, "What are you going to do?"

Kamijou glanced at her before directing his gaze again to the tiny object. He reached out his right hand.

A high pitched sound was heard in the moment he laid a finger on it, and the vibrating stopped. So too did the pain as Kamijou grasped his phone. With no small amount of apprehension, he scanned the area. Aside from them, the hallway was empty, but that did little to set him at ease.

"What was that sound?" Fukiyose's voice broke the silence, "Was it your phone?"

"No, I'll explain it later," Kamijou narrowed his eyes. "...Someone did this, an esper to be exact. But I'm not sure if they're near."

"How can you tell? And what kind of ability could trigger this kind of effect on a cell phone? To cause pain on contact with one's skin? That's just insane," The girl with an ample forehead commented, "Why would anyone do this to you anyway?"

"I have no idea but…" Kamijou faltered when he opened the device.

There was a new anonymous message in it.

**I 2·"%am32 al·w$·ays w_$atch26(!ªing you, so d*^7^^()3on't do-th408%/at :(**

The boy narrowed his eyes before scanning his surroundings again. Fukiyose looked confused, but remained silent.

_'Another disturbing message. Who on earth sent it? Who's watching me, and from where? And more importantly... Why?'_

"But what? Kamijou, tell me what's happening," Fukiyose put a hand on his shoulder, catching his attention. "You're saying an esper did this? Why?"

"…I don't know but lately, I think someone has been stalking me."

"Stalking you?" Fukiyose sought confirmation.

"Yes… I've been receiving some weird messages since yesterday, and sometimes I get the feeling of being watched," Kamijou closed his cell and pocketed it back to his pants, "I thought it was just my imagination, but after this..."

Fukiyose frowned at his statement, which was honestly the expected reaction. Kamijou gathered his thoughts as quickly as he could.

Now he was certain.

One: He indeed had a stalker, who obviously knew him.

Two: This stalker knew where he lived and where he studied.

Three: This person managed to get his contact information somehow, maybe through hacking the Telephone ID list of AC or simply asking someone who knew it.

Four: His apartment was entered several times. Nothing was stolen but it was clear that someone moved his stuff, quite possibly the same person that sent him those creepy messages.

_'Don't do that… Don't do what? Kiss Fukiyose? Why this stalker wanted to stop that from happening? Damnit! My life is really getting a turn for the worse.'_

"You should inform Komoe-sensei about this, or Yomikawa-sensei," The busty girl's voice brought him back to reality, "I'm sure they will be able to help you with this."

"…I guess you're right. I'll tell them the next chance I get."

"Yes, you should do that," Fukiyose nodded.

Kamijou scratched the back of his head, letting out an exasperated grunt.

While the unfortunate spiky-haired boy was reluctant to get anyone involved in his chaotic life, there was the probability that this time his life was actually in real danger. Having an adult know about it was probably the best course of action. Komoe-sensei could give him advice while Yomikawa could tell him how to proceed in this situation.

"Is your leg alright?"

Kamijou grinned. There was no use to keep her worrying about this stuff, so he changed the subject.

"Yeah, it's fine," The boy chuckled, "Although, my whole body aches… Training is kinda rough."

"Kind of suspected as much… I didn't mention anything but I was wondering why you looked all battered and bruised," Fukiyose put a hand on her hip, "So… What about the coming exams?"

"Don't worry about it. Komoe-sensei and Yomikawa-sensei will handle my studies after my training sessions," Fukiyose looked at him, confused, "They're coming here to teach me every evening."

"Oh… Maybe…" She hesitated, "Umm… Maybe I could help you, too…"

Kamijou blinked twice at the offer. Fukiyose was an excellent student, with great scores that earned her the respect of everyone in the class.

"Really? Your notes should be helpful, thanks!"

"…I wasn't referring to that kind of help…" The girl muttered.

"Hmm? What kind of help then?" The boy asked as he took out his keys from the right pocket, opening the door of his dorm. He then turned towards the busty girl.

Fukiyose looked a bit surprised, as if she wasn't expecting him to have heard that. He still could tell that she was acting a bit out of character.

"Eh? You heard me…? Umm… I… I actually was meaning to help you study, too…"

"Oh, I see. I would appreciate that either way," Kamijou flashed a sheepish smile, "It's funny to think that I used to picture you as some kind of monster disguised as a girl, but you turned out to be a really nice person," He laughed.

Fukiyose stared at him blankly for some seconds before a tick mark appeared on her ample forehead. Rather than smile, she scowled illogically at his compliment.

"You… Why do you always…?" Her voice faded as she threw him a deep glare.

Kamijou blinked in confusion, as he tried to determine what could have possibly set her off.

"Let's just get this over with, smartass!" Fukiyose shouted as she entered Kamijou's dorm, much to his surprise.

"Wait! Today? You're going to help me today?" The startled boy said as he followed the angry girl inside his dorm. "I wasn't planning to…"

After pulling off his shoes, something that she also did despite her rush, the boy stopped when he saw Fukiyose standing in the middle of his bedroom.

_'What now? I don't want to ask, my poor flesh can't take any more abuse!'_

"So… This is your place huh…?" The black-haired girl commented while she looked around the dorm.

"I guess it is…" The spiky-haired teen said, scratching his head with one hand and putting the other in his pants pocket.

Fukiyose's gaze fell on the short bookshelf at the left side on the TV, kneeling in front of it to examine the contents.

"Manga and more manga… Where are your student books? I don't see them anywhere."

"Hmm… Under the bed?"

Fukiyose turned his head a bit, and gave him a blank stare, "Why do you have books under the bed? I would have expected you to hide your perverted magazines in there but not your books for school."

Kamijou's merely raised an eyebrow, "What makes you think I have perverted magazines under there?"

Fukiyose furrowed her brow. "Because you're a boy?"

Kamijou sighed and scratched his head once more, "Fukiyose, just because I'm a boy doesn't mean that I have perverted magazines. Just like I don't assume you like to dress up because you're a girl."

Fukiyose looked at him a bit oddly, "You really don't have perverted magazines under the bed?"

"No, and feel free to check if you want."

Fukiyose just put a hand on her chest, shaking her head slightly, "It's okay Kamijou, I trust you."

As she said that, Kamijou sensed that she was quite happy about it, as far as he could tell anyways. Kamijou didn't understand and so he wanted to get a confirmation for future reference, "Fukiyose… you really don't like that kind of stuff, huh?"

"No, I don't. I dislike perverted things and anything related to it. It just irritates me to no end," She responded honestly, and then nodded in relief. "So, I'm kind of glad that you don't think about perverted things."

_'I do think about perverted stuff from time to time though… but now that she mentioned it…_

"Heh, but wasn't it you who brought up the subject? So it actually looks like you're the one who's thinking about it a lot," Kamijou asked with a teasing smile.

"S-shut up! I don't think about perverted things!" Her cheeks reddened slightly, and she noticed him chuckling, "What's so funny, you idiot!?"

Kamijou continued to chuckle and despite his teasing, she soon joined in with a soft laugh of her own.

"…Well, here. My notes," His new and now close friend Fukiyose Seiri shoved a book to his chest after searching inside her school bag.

He took the dark-bluish book she offered, but raised an eyebrow in confusion, "I thought you were—"

"Tomorrow," Fukiyose cut him off, "I better leave… Haven't slept well these couple days so I should probably try to rest today," It wasn't until she mentioned this that he noticed the slight dark circles under her eyes.

"Alright… Sure, no problem."

The girl nodded and walked to the entrance door, "You should, too. Don't push yourself too hard, Kamijou," She put on her shoes and glanced at him, "Don't forget to inform the teachers about that stalker," An enigmatic expression covered her face, "Whatever happens, never give up. I'll always be rooting for you… So, goodnight…"

With that, the girl left.

Kamijou remained silent, eyes moving from the entrance door to the book in his hands.

He felt his grip harden.

"I won't give up. That's a promise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1]: 'The Dawn of a New Day' is a reference of the ending in The Legend of Zelda: Majoras' Mask.
> 
> Maybe you have noticed or not but Yomikawa sometimes call our protagonist by: Touma and other times by: Touma-kun. No, I didn't forget to add the '-kun', there is a reason for this.
> 
> See you all soon.


End file.
